Stargate Ascendant
by MikeJaffa
Summary: Daniel Jackson and Samantha Carter meet their fates. (AU to both shows now.)
1. Prologue

TITLE: Stargate Ascenant

AUTHOR: MikeJaffa

SUBJECT: Millennia after the fall of Stargate Command, Samantha Carter and Daniel Jackson meet their destinies.

SPOILERS FOR: "Star Crossed," "Lone and Level Sands," "Day of Judgment, Day of Wrath," and "Shadows Cast by a Final Salute." Extremely minor SG-1 spoilers WRT the life, death, and life of Daniel Jackson.

RATING: About the same as the TV shows.

DISCLAIMER: I own neither the rights to STARGATE: SG-1 nor ANDROMEDA nor the song lyrics quoted. I would also like to apologize for any blunders I make WRT STARGATE's mythology; I have watched every DROM ep but only recently got interested in SG-1. This includes any and all misspellings of names, species, worlds, etc.

SETTING: Except for the prologue, which is only a few years down the road, this story takes place early in ANDROMEDA's Season 4. I wrote this in the summer of d seen season 4, so some of my guesses about where DROM was going were wrong. So that makes it kind of an AU for both shows. I also did a little editing/rewriting, but not much. If you read it before, I hope you like it. Thats bring it!

8

8

_"All this time I can't believe I couldn't see_

_Kept in the dark but you were there in front of me_

_I've been sleeping a thousand years it seems_

_Got to open my eyes to everything."_

**-Evanescence, "Bring me to Life"**

**PROLOGUE - THE LAST STAND OF STARGATE COMMAND**

"We're all set, sir," Major Samantha Carter-O'Neill said as she came down the corridor, up to the makeshift barricade where General Hammond and the last of his men, joined by a handful of Tok'ra, as well as master Bratac and some liberated jaffa, waited for the end. She pulled a small black box from her pocket and offered it to her superior officer. "You can activate the self-destruct mechanism with this. You have a five minute delay; nothing can stop it."

"And this will destroy the gate as well as this facility?" Hammond asked, accepting the box.

"Yes," Sam said, "which will knock the gate network out of alignment for ... Oh, something like two, three thousand years. But no one up top should know anything other than a moderate Earthquake has happened."

Hammond grunted. Earth had been untouched by this final, all-or-nothing war being mounted by the Goa'uld, and he regretted the apocalyptic impact it had had on their allies. But he remained determined that the Goa'uld's aggression would stop here ... no matter what the cost.

Hammond turned to the bespectacled, brown-haired man who'd accompanied the blonde scientist. "Dr. Jackson?"

"Yes, um..." Daniel Jackson said, still awkward as ever. "Unfortunately, we've lost contact with the *Prometheus;* she may have been destroyed. But the last Goa'uld warship has been dealt with. Apparently."

"Good," a voice said from behind them. "Let the snakes be cut off on unfriendly turf for once."

They turned to see Colonel Jack O'Neill, SG-1's leader, a bit unsteady on his feet, a bandage on his forehead, and a crying, fussing bundle in his arms; and Teal'c, the powerful, dark-skinned Jaffa warrior who had long ago pledged his allegiance to Earth.

Sam didn't hesitate to get in her husband's face. "Jack! You're supposed to be in medical." She turned on Jack's companion. "Teal'c, you were supposed to-"

"I am sorry, Major Carter-O'Neill," Teal'c said, "but he insisted."

"If I'm goin' out today," Jack said, "I'm going to do it on my feet, where the snakes can look me in the eye." He handed the bundle to Sam. "I want you and Teal'c to take the baby and get out of here. If we make it out alive, I'll-"

"No, Jack, I'm not-"

"DON'T! ARGUE!" Jack lowered his voice. "If I can buy some time for my wife and daughter to escape, it's worth it."

"Jack-"

"Go, please."

They looked into each other's eyes - there was nothing left to say - and kissed one more time. Then Jack's eyes found the powerful Jaffa's. "Teal'c. I shouldn't have to ask, but-"

"I will guard their lives with my own, Jack O'Neill. You have my word."

Jack nodded; Teal'c gave a slight bow, then gently tugged at Sam's shoulder. Her eyes stayed with Jack until she'd gone 'round the far corner.

"Ok." Jack hefted a rifle and took his place at the barricade. They could hear the enemy finally coming closer. "Let's do this."

"Ham-mond of Texas," Bratac said. "I wonder what a human leader would have to say to inspire his troops at a time like this?"

Hammond smiled grimly. "'Remember the Alamo.'"

8

8

Sam looked up from the laptop she'd wired into the stargate's control circuits, past where Teal'c waited with the baby in his arms, and watched the gate as the last chevron locked into place and the glistening event horizon erupted into existence.

"Let's go." She yanked the laptop's connecting wire from the wall and started for the ramp -

- and whirled at the sound of gunfire from the entrance behind her. Someone had forced the door open a crack. A jaffa energy bolt whizzed just over their heads and hit the gate. Sparks flashed from the metal ring and odd patterns played on the event horizon, but it remained active.

"Go!" Sam screamed, diving for cover as she drew her own .45 pistol. "I'll hold them off."

Teal'c shut the sounds of human and jaffa weapons fire from his thoughts as he held the baby girl to him and raced for the gate, feeling the jaffa energy bolt approach just as he went through the event horizon ...


	2. Part 1

**... THREE THOUSAND YEARS LATER (GIVE OR TAKE) ...**

Gerhard Kemp smiled and shook his head as he snapped the rubber glove off his hand. "I still can't believe it," he said, eyes locked on what appeared to be the body of a nude man lying on the table he was standing over.

"What?" Seamus Harper, the *Andromeda Ascendant's* chief engineer, said as he tossed his own gloves onto the table behind him (and didn't miss this time).

"This," Kemp said. "Building an android to embody a starship. I mean, just the whole idea of a ship who's also a person ... I feel like I'm back in engineering 101."

"What, you never talked to the *Bellerephon?*"

"Yeah, cursed at her too, sometimes. We all did. But Andromeda would curse *back.*"

The image of a beautiful olive-skinned, brown-eyed, dark-haired woman appeared on a nearby monitor. "And how," the *Andromeda Ascendant's* AI said.

"What-?" Harper said. "You never curse at *me,* Rom Doll."

"You only say that because you don't speak Vedran." With an ever so slightly egotistical smile, she left the monitor, the engineering status display page she'd momentarily replaced reappearing.

"I take it from the levity that the your work is done?" asked the dark-haired, middle aged woman who entered the machine shop. If Commander Nadya Ratmanski, Kemp's superior on the *Bellerephon* during the centuries they'd wandered the stars, their aging retarded by relativity, shared her long-time shipmate's wonder at creating a ship's avatar (although this one no longer had a ship), she betrayed no sign of it, remaining strictly professional.

"Eeeyup," Harper said. "Yet another avatar for the *Unbalanced of Judgment's* artificial intelligence. Someone explain to me again why I had to knock out another one of these guys?"

"You know perfectly well it's so the Judgment AI can stand trial for his crimes before a jury of his peers - the other AIs in the fleet," Nadya said.

"However many of them are left," Harper said, "no thanks to the new regent of the Nietzschean people, Tyr Anasleezy. Personally, I think we'd be doing them a favor if we erased Judgment's sorry ass for good this time."

"That is not an option, I'm afraid." Nadya handed Harper a small data disk. "If you please, Mr. Harper?"

"Yeah, yeah." Harper inserted the disk into a nearby control console, then plugged one end of his lead into the console, the other into the dataport in his neck, and shut his eyes. Almost a minute dragged by with the starting and stopping of the disk drive the only hint anything was happening. Then both Harper and the Judgment avatar's eyes fluttered and opened.

Judgment turned and looked towards the *Andromeda's* young, blonde chief engineer. "Another job well done," he said politely. "Thank you, Mr. Harper."

Harper just snorted as he pulled the lead out of his neck and turned to his work.

"Balance of Judgment," Nadya said. "By order of the Commonwealth, you have been given this body, where you will be 'confined,' so that you may stand trial on multiple charges of terrorism, conspiracy, piracy, kidnapping, murder, and attempted murder."

"I understand, Commander," the android said deferentially as he began pulling clothes on.

"Mr. Harper will supervise you until your trial," Nadya went on. "WHAT!?" Harper yelped. "Nadya, I-he-I don't even like this guy-HE TRIED TO KILL ME!"

"Exactly," Nadya said. "If anyone can keep a sufficiently distrustful eye on him, it's you, especially given that, as his creator, you can shut him down if ordered to do so."

"Yeah," Harper said, starting to smile, "bet I can-"

"Notice the word *ordered,*" Nadya added. She softened a bit: "I'm not insensitive to your experience, but he has to be delivered to trial intact."

"If it makes you feel any better," Judgment offered as he pulled his pants on and reached for a pair of shoes, "you are the first human in ... let me see ... 2,127 years assigned such a duty."

"It doesn't," Harper said. Judgment just looked at the floor.

Nadya turned to the android. "I understand you have to have an 'avatar name.' How will we address you?"

"Um, uh ..." Balance of Judgment turned to Harper. "Mr. Harper. As my Pygmalion, why don't you pick a name?"

"Howzabout 'Scum-Sucking Maggot from Hell'?" Harper spat.

Judgment smiled sadly. "Appropriate, I'm sure. But I believe the commander would prefer something less colorful."

"If you want to name him *after* a scum-sucking maggot," Kemp offered, "there was this guy I knew from training, David Witherspoon. Never could stand him-"

"And he was just as infantile about his feelings towards you," Nadya said.

"It wasn't infantile," Kemp argued. "If they dig him up back home, I hope the stink is so bad they toss him in an incinerator, post-haste."

"Yes..." Judgment said as he pulled on a semi-formal jacket. Now fully-clothed, he faced his human captors. "Thank you, Mr. Kemp. I will go by the name 'Daniel.'"

Kemp frowned. "I said 'David,' not 'Daniel.'"

"You did?" Judgment asked, puzzled.

"He did," Nadya said.

"Curious..." Judgment mused.

"Daniel, David, what's it matter!?" Harper snapped. "Just pick one already."

"Daniel," Judgment said.

"Very well," Nadya said. "Andromeda, please note for the record that Balance of Judgment Humanoid Avatar 003 will be known as 'Daniel.'"

"So noted," the ship's voice said.

"Carry on," Nadya said, turning to leave.

"Nadya-wait up!" Harper called out, running after her. Kemp went about his business, leaving Balance of Judgment - Daniel - quite ignored.

Daniel frowned slightly, then crossed to a console and sat on a stool next to it. "Andromeda. I would like to read something, please."

"Your access to my systems is limited," the ship's voice said tartly (she had her own scores to settle with the Judgment AI), "and only with the approval of the supervising officer, Chief Engineer Seamus Harper."

"I wasn't asking for direct access to your memory banks," Daniel said. "I said, I would like to *read* something. My former avatar, Gabriel, was quite vocal about the benefits of reading as organics do, and I have nothing better to do right now."

Andromeda paused for a moment. "Subject matter?"

"History - archaeology -yes-Traxvulta's account of the dig at the Cerevex Proving grounds."

"Displaying." The console, lit up, and Daniel bent closer to read it...

...and found his attention wandering to the reflection of his own face in the monitor. He ran his fingers along his cheeks. He recalled Gabriel had had a similar preoccupation, although Remiel had never said anything. But now that the Balance of Judgment's core personality resided in an android body of its own, he could see what his former avatar had been taking about:

There was something wrong with his face. Something *missing.*

He began to trace a circle around one eye with an index finger -

- and winced suddenly, involuntarily crying out.

That got Kemp's attention. "Hey-you ok?"

"Yes..." Daniel said quickly. "Yes, I'm fine."

"You sure? Maybe I should get-"

"No, Mr. Kemp, I am well. AI cores such as myself are generally configured for installation in starship mainframes; being confined in a humanoid avatar raises certain compatibility and system resource issues which my auto-repair systems will smooth out in time. But thank you for asking."

"No problem." But Kemp managed to keep an eye on the android as he turned back to his work.

Daniel, for his part, turned back to his reading and hoped he hid his shame. So great was his guilt over his crimes that he hated even slightly lying to someone, but he felt it had been necessary. Neither Kemp nor anyone else needed to know what had made him cry out:

For an instant, as he had studied his reflection, he had seen a sharp, painful vision of his own face ...

... wearing black-rimmed glasses.

8

8

"Nadya, hold up!" Harper panted, finally catching up with her. "What's the word from the drift?"

"Not good, I'm afraid," Nadya said. "For one thing, Captain Val- BEKA was not allowed in the meeting, and there's been no word yet from Dylan and Rommie."

"Great," Harper groaned. "Well, considering I have to baby-sit the Balance of Black-Hearted Treachery, I don't see what the High Guard could throw at us that could be any worse..."

8

8

"You have got to be kidding!" Dylan said.

"Do I look like I'm kidding?" Acting Minister of War Jack Freemont said, folding his arms; Rommie just watched from the sidelines.

Dylan pointed at the last occupant of the tiny, metal-walled office. "You're sending Sid Profit to negotiate some kind of armistice with Tyr?"

"That's right," Jack said.

"And I'm supposed to be his taxi driver!?" Dylan yelped.

"Two for two," Jack said.

"With all due respect, Sid isn't anymore trustworthy than Tyr is! Why should I go along with this?"

Jack heaved a deep breath and turned to Rommie and Sid. "Will you give us a moment?"

Sid and Rommie filed out; the door slid shut behind them.

"Dylan," Jack said, making a visible effort to be diplomatic, "you remember a few months back when I told you that your stock at HQ is not what it was?"

"Yes," Dylan said.

"Well, right now, your situation would have to *improve* dramatically to get back *up* to that point! In case you haven't noticed, the Commonwealth recently got its butt kicked, and a former member of YOUR crew did the kicking. And a lot of people can't help but notice that your other officers aren't the most sterling characters either."

"What - is that why-?"

"Our security people are reviewing some... outstanding issues with Captain Valentine."

"There's nothing to review! She has my full confidence."

"Like Tyr did?"

Dylan didn't answer that.

"I thought so," Jack said, and made a visible effort to calm down. "Listen, Dylan, I like you. And believe it or not, I'm on your side. So let me give you a piece of advice: Right now, it would not be in your best interests to upset the Cally melon cart; a lot of people - some of them, I admit, with axes to grind - are looking for any excuse to come down on you like a ton of bricks, and I don't want to see that happen. So, you WILL follow your orders to the letter. You WILL NOT pull any rabbits out of your hat, or do anything otherwise crazy or stupid. And that way, WE ALL will be very happy. I'm happy now." He forced a smile. "Can't you see how happy I am?"

"Yes," Dylan grumbled.

"Then go and spread piece and joy throughout the land. Make us all happy. OR ELSE. Dismissed. And Captain? Keep smiling."

8

8

"For what it's worth," Sid offered as he and Rommie followed Dylan through the station's corridors, "I was as surprised as you were that they called me. But I will do my best for king and country, Captain, and I've pulled enough fast ones in my time that I should be able to keep Regent Anasazi for getting one over one us."

"That's really comforting, Sid; thanks." He didn't sound comforted, though.

They came to a door where Beka was waiting with some disheveled High Guard officers, one of whom had a black eye.

"How'd it go?" Dylan said.

"They kept walking into walls," the blonde starship pilot said, forcing her own smile. "Clumsy."

"I'll mention it to the High Guard academy. We're leaving now."

Beka fell in step at Dylan's side as the foursome continued on. Beka cursed when she was sure she was out of earshot of the 'clumsy' officers. "What the hell was that all about?" she groused. "They gave me the fourth degree on everything I did since I was nine. And what's Sid doing here?"

Dylan put his arm around Beka's shoulder and smiled. "Well, Beka, if you liked Commonwealth Security's interrogation techniques, you'll love this..."

8

8

"All decks report ready," Nadya reported as Beka and Dylan took their places on the command deck (Uncle Sid wandering around and poking his nose in crew members' business).

"Finally!" Beka snapped. "What held everything up?"

"It took a little longer than expected to secure the new trans-atmospheric shuttles."

"*What* new shuttles?"

"These, Rocket," Sid said, tabbing a control panel. One of the huge main screens displayed the *Maru's* hangar, a sleek, gleaming lifting body sitting next to Beka's bulky, ungainly-looking *Eureka Maru.* "My contribution to the cause," Sid explained. "In these troubled times, with the Commonwealth having been dealt a major setback, it probably doesn't hurt to have more than one way off the *Andromeda.*"

"And Mr. Profit gets what, a tax write-off?" Beka said.

"Let's accept the gift in the spirit intended," Dylan said, "especially since Andromeda went over both the vehicles and their provenance without finding anything ... unusual."

"Wow," Beka said. "Never thought I'd see Rommie have an-"

Dylan scowled at her.

"Yeah," Beka said, turning to the *Andromeda's* flight control. "ATC has given us clearance for departure."

Dylan smiled. "Then by all means, Captain Valentine, at your discretion, take us out."

8

8

Kemp snuck another look over his shoulder at Daniel, who was leaning against the bulkhead at the rear of the slipstream core, engrossed in a flexie. "Is it just me?" Kemp said. "Or is he nerdier than you are?"

"I hadn't noticed," Harper snapped.

Daniel looked up. "Um ... what? Excuse me?"

"Um..." Kemp said, trying to recover. "I was just wondering what you were reading."

Whether or not he knew Kemp was lying, Daniel was all too happy to answer. "Ah. Academician Traxvulta's account of the dig at the Cerevex Proving grounds on Tarn Vedra - the most complete known record of the dig. Fascinating read. The Vedran royal family only allowed this one dig during two weeks before the rainy season. They had to practically strip-mine the site to do meaningful research in the time allotted, yet they did it without destroying any artifacts."

"Wow," Kemp said, honestly interested. "What were they looking for at ... uh ..."

"Cerevex. It's believed that was the primary R&D site into the field of artificial intelligence before the coronation of the first empress. Several artifacts found at the dig seem to confirm that. I've long believed Cerevex was where my 'ancestors' originated, and I was gratified to find that before the Fall, someone had found evidence to prove it."

"What do you... I mean, c'mon, Daniel, shouldn't the development of AIs be right there in textbooks someplace?"

"Shouldn't it, Mr. Kemp? Do you know the name of the first AI to gain sentience?"

"No."

"Mr. Harper-?" "WHAT?" Harper snapped, turning to Daniel.

"Do you know?" Daniel asked.

"The name of the first AI," Kemp added.

"No," Harper said.

"Well, neither do I," Daniel said. "Neither does Andromeda. Nor any AI anywhere."

"'Zat true, Rom Doll?" Harper asked. "Yes," said Andromeda's screen image. "That information does not exist anywhere in my database."

"No one knows," Daniel said professorially. "Nor do we know *why* the Vedrans pushed computer science as far as they did when no other race with similar levels of sophistication in that area did - not the Thans, not humans, not Perseids, not *anybody.* All we know is that when the first empress was crowned, there were AIs in her retinue and sentient ships on the drawing boards. But no one knows why.

"And even ten thousand years later, there are plenty of indications the Vedran aristocracy didn't want anyone to know, either; the limitations on the Cerevex dig would seem to indicate to all but the willfully blind that-"

A klaxon sounded, cutting Daniel off, Andromeda's voice rousing the crew to battle stations.

"Crap!" Harper said. "Thrill me, Rom Doll - what's going down *this* time?"

"Kalderans," Andromeda answered. "It seems a full battle group has been waiting for us at the rendezvous point; their fighters have put themselves between us and the nearest slip portals."

"Never rains," Kemp muttered ...

8

8

"And how did that happen?" Beka snapped.

"Worry about that later," Dylan said.

"The Kalderans have painted us with targeting scanners," Rommie, the ship's beautiful avatar, reported. "They are almost in weapons range."

"Open a channel," Dylan said.

"Channel open."

"This is Captain Dylan Hunt of the Commonwealth starship *Andromeda Ascendant.* We are on a diplomatic mission, but we will defend ourselves if we have to. In the interests of avoiding bloodshed on both sides, stand down now."

"They're firing," Rommie said.

"So much for diplomacy," Beka said.

They quickly fell into the familiar pattern - Dylan barking orders, Beka piloting the ship, enemy missiles being shot down as the *Andromeda* returned fire, like a hundred times before, until -

"Direct hit," Rommie said as the deck rocked particularly violently.

"Where?" Dylan snapped.

"Engineering-"

8

8

"Chief!" Kemp shouted, picking himself off the floor, trying to see through the smoke and steam. "Harper! Seamus! Answer me!" He squinted; he thought he could see Harper lying on the deck near one of the reactors. Then an alarm sounded.

Kemp found Daniel at his side. "There's a radiation leak," Daniel said. "We have to get out of here."

"But Harper-"

"I'll get him."

Before Kemp could say anything, Daniel rushed into the steam. Moments later, he came back with Harper in his arms. "Here," Daniel said. Kemp and another crew member slung Harper's arms over their shoulders; they could see their boss was badly burned.

"Get into the corridor," Daniel instructed. "The neutrino dampers will protect you."

"But we have a radiation leak-"

"I've got it."

Kemp kept sneaking glances over his shoulder as they dragged Harper away. Daniel worked the controls until they hear the loud SCHUNK of control rods sliding into place. The alarm went off.

"You did it," Kemp breathed as Daniel joined them in the corridor.

"I solved one problem," Daniel said. "But unfortunately-" The deck rocked under their feet again. "-shutting down that reactor has made us more vulnerable to attack," Daniel finished.

8

8

"HE DID *WHAT!?*" Beka yelled as she fought the controls. "Who said that the BALANCE OF JUDGMENT could-"

"That's the least of our-" Dylan started, and the command deck rocked again.

"Our defenses are down," Rommie's screen image. "Kalderan forces moving in for the kill."

"Great," Dylan groaned.

"Slipstream event..." Rommie added.

"More Kalderans?" Dylan said.

"No, Nietzscheans," Rommie replied. "We're being-"

Tyr Anasazi's face suddenly filled one of the monitors. "*Andromeda Ascendant.* Stand by." He vanished.

"Tyr's forces are firing on the Kalderans!" Rommie reported, at once surprised and relieved.

"This is one gift horse I'll take at face value," Dylan said. "Andromeda-fire all batteries! Fire at will!"

"Aye..."

With Tyr's forces behind them and the *Andromeda* in front of them, it didn't take long for the Kalderaans to be routed. When the last enemy ship had transited to the slipstream, Tyr once again hailed his former captain.

"It would seem I owe you one," Dylan said cautiously.

"The Kalderans are violently opposed to *all* forms of centralized interstellar government," Tyr explained. "Their presence was not unexpected. If anything, they are a problem both your Commonwealth and the Nietzschean people now share."

"I-"

"Dylan!" Rommie broke in. "I have casualty ... It's Harper."

8

8

Dylan, Beka, and Rommie found Daniel, Trance, and Kemp in the medical bay's outer office. They didn't waste time confronting the former terrorist. "If I find out you had a hand in this-" Dylan started.

"I am not in the employ of the Kalderans, or anyone else," Daniel said. "I saw lives were in danger, and I did what I could to help."

"It's true," Kemp said. "He got the chief out of there and shut down the reactor. There'd be a hole where we're standing if he hadn't."

"Gee, won't that look good at your trial?" Beka didn't even try not to sound sarcastic.

Daniel sagged a little as he turned to her. "Maybe I just want to know, for myself, if I can be what I was again, just so *I* know, even if no one else knows or cares."

"Well, thank you for trying," Trance said. Just the way the gold-skinned warrior maiden held herself set off alarm bells in her shipmates' minds.

"How is he?" Dylan asked. "Not good," Trance said. "And getting worse."

"I don't understand," Daniel said, puzzled. "The radiation burns are actually quite minor, easily treatable-"

"Yes, they are," Trance said. "And I am treating them; *those* should heal. But it's not just the burns. It's *everything,* his whole life - childhood malnutrition and diseases, torture by Nietzscheans, more disease during adulthood, the damage to his system done by the Magog larvae - it's all taken something out of him, and he's never really recovered from anything before being hit again. The nanobots enhancing his immune system can only do so much and now..." Trance looked down at the floor. "He's not going to pull through this time."

The shock rippling though the room was palpable.

Dylan found his voice first: "How long?"

"A few days at best," Trance said. "I can treat his injuries and keep him comfortable but other than that-"

Rommie was already hurrying past Trance.

8

8

"Hey, Beautiful," Harper managed as Rommie sat down on the edge of his bed.

"Hey, yourself," Rommie said, barely managing to keep her voice from breaking.

"Must be really bad this time, huh?"

"What makes you say that?"

"'Cause you never come an' see me unless I'm in trouble, one way or another."

Rommie couldn't look at him.

"It's bad this time, isn't it?"

"Yeah," Rommie croaked.

"Am I gonna make it?"

Rommie didn't answer.

"Rommie?"

"You should rest, Harper, save your strength-"

"You didn't answer my question, Rom Doll."

Rommie swallowed, but finally managed, "No, Trance doesn't expect you to make it."

"Damn." Harper let his head flop back onto the pillow. "Figured it would happen like this sooner or later. But if it's my time to go, then it's my time."

Rommie looked away for a moment, then her face hardened into a look of determination. "Not if I can help it," she said, getting up.

8

8

Daniel found Rommie in the *Andromeda's* computer core, still as a statue at its central control podium, the cavernous room's wall monitors flickering with data that flashed across it too fast for *human* eyes to follow.

"What are you doing here?" Rommie demanded, her eyes never leaving the monitors.

"I wanted to see if I could help," Daniel said.

"Trance hasn't recommended strangulation as a means of euthanasia, so you have nothing to do."

Daniel shuffled uncomfortably.

"Andromeda ... I was hoping I could-"

"I understand your motives, Daniel, and I hope you satisfy yourself. What you have to understand is I don't give a damn. You violated me, usurped this body, and used it - used ME! - to assault the people I care about, to make me watch helplessly as you tried to kill my engineer. There is absolutely nothing you can do or say to make up for that, so you might as well not try."

Daniel just nodded and looked down at his feet, but he didn't turn to leave.

One after another, the monitors went dark, until Rommie was confronted with blank walls. Her search had ended with no hits - none.

Rommie leaned forward, grasping the podium's railings. "Dammit," she hissed.

Andromeda's screen image appeared on a monitor. "So what now?" she asked her android self.

Rommie looked up. "We play the long shots."

"How long?"

"*Long.*"

The core AI nodded, and left the screen; the images flashed across the monitors again, patterns of light flickering across the two androids' faces. One after another, the monitors darkened -

- until one image remained, that of a woman with a youthful face, blue eyes, and short blonde hair. Daniel found his eyes riveted to the image.

"The Lady Samantha..." Rommie mused. "Curio-" She turned to Daniel. The male android seemed to be in pain, rubbing his temples.

"What?" Rommie asked.

"I-" Daniel looked up at the image. "I don't-I feel-"

_... and then he is not in the computer core, nor anywhere else aboard the *Andromeda.* The room is austere, a huge metal box, its bareness and functionality in stark contrast to the ornate metal ring in its center, several meters wide, a glistening membrane of light filling its center ... he knows he knows what it means and he does not know ..._

_ ... and they are there, the woman with the blonde hair, only different somehow; an older man with graying hair and a predatory look in his eyes; a dark skinned warrior with a gold design on his forehead; and... _

_... he has Daniel's face, but the hair is different, shorter, and the eyes are rimmed by glasses... _

_...and... _

_... and... _

_'Who are you?' Daniel asks. 'What are you? How are you connected to me?' He reaches out ... _

_...the world explodes... _

_sight _

_sound _

_smell_

_ touch _

_taste _

_places _

_people _

_things _

_life _

_death _

_life again _

_and_

"-I-" Daniel shook himself, suddenly back in his own body, facing an at once concerned and hostile Andromeda. "It's gone now." Daniel turned his attention back to the monitor, to the mysterious woman he'd never seen before ... hadn't he? "For a moment I felt-" He broke off. "Never mind. You're taking this to Dylan?"

"Yes."

"I'll go with you..."

8

8

"She calls herself The Lady Samantha and 'Ydara,'" Rommie explained, Daniel leaning against the wall of Dylan's office, Beka, Trance, Nadya and Kemp around the table, Tyr standing by the far end. being restored to perfect health, and they have been independently verified."

"Aaannnndddd ... this is the best shot for saving Harper?" Beka asked.

"It's a long shot," Rommie said, "but the best long shot there is."

"If one forgets that these miracle patients never left the lady's care," Tyr put in.

All eyes snapped to the Nietzschean, then back to Rommie.

"Is that true?" Dylan asked.

"Yes," Rommie said.

"But Daniel knows her."

"No, I-" Daniel stammered. "I just-I-" He broke off and spent several moments collecting himself. "I believe the reports may be genuine," he said carefully. "But I advise extreme caution."

"Why?" Dylan asked.

Daniel shrugged. "Gift horses, Captain?"

Dylan turned to a console in front of him. "Charon Theta is in Nietzschean territory-"

"You shall have safe passage," Tyr said, "and an escort."

"Really?" Dylan said, sitting back as all eyes once more settled on Tyr. "Why so generous? What's in it for you?"

"A chance to laugh," Tyr said.

Dylan decided not to pursue it. "Captain Valentine-"

"Course for Charon Theta, gotchya."

"Would it be too much to ask that people wait until I give the orders before they obey them?"

8

8

The trip to Charon Theta was mercifully uneventful, and once the *Andromeda* and her Nietzschean escort had settled into orbit, it was relatively easy to get Samantha on line.

"How may I be of assistance, Captain Hunt?" she said in a light, cheerful voice, her face filling the monitor.

"We have a man down ... Ydara? Samantha?" Dylan frowned. "How do we address you?"

"Either will do. I am Samantha." She closed her eyes for a moment. "And I am Ydara," she said in a guttural voice. Another blink, and Samantha's normal voice returned. "Either will do. Just don't call me 'My Lady.' A spacer invented that. If anything, I prefer 'Sam.'"

"Yes, um-" Dylan said. "Excuse me, but what happened just now with the-"

"Ah. Ydara is my symbiote."

"A sentient parasite?" Rommie said. "But I thought they had all been exterminated in a war thousands of years ago."

"No, not all," Sam said. "And it's passed time the Known Worlds again benefited from their technology. So, Captain Hunt, if your man is fit to travel, we will be ready to receive you."

"Beka. Prep the *Maru.*"

She was already leaving the command deck.

8

8

Sam's compound and its surrounding village were the only signs of habitation on the planet. The lady herself greeted Dylan, Rommie, Beka, and the crewmen bearing Harper's litter, in the main building, but insisted the others wait in an anteroom while Sam's own men took Harper through.

"It's purely a precaution," Sam explained. "Our technology is very delicate, and their may be compatibility issues. Especially with regard to the telemetry signals your ship's avatar is putting out. Please wait here. I will let you know as soon we have a diagnosis."

So the others had nothing to do for an hour and a half but wander around the comfortable room and admire the objets d'art; Rommie noted several paintings of the Rocky Mountains on Earth (before the Nietzscheans had reduced Earth to a combination wasteland and forced labor camp).

Sam's return through the double doors got everyone's attention.

"Well?" Beka said.

"I think he's going to make it," Sam said. "Mind you, it's tricky - I've never seen an immune system as badly compromised as his - but he will get better."

"Can we see him?" Beka said.

"Soon," Sam said. She turned to Dylan, smiling broadly. "In the mean time, I would like to say how honored I am to meet you." She stuck her hand out; Dylan shook it. "Your adventures remind me of what I used to do," she said.

"Excuse me?" Dylan said.

"Oh." Sam dropped her hand. "Allow me to reintroduce myself: Major Samantha Carter-O'Neill, US Air Force. Retired, obviously."

"And you last served..." Dylan prodded.

"Early in the 21st century. Sorry, I never got the hang of the 'CY' thing. But I can give Andromeda my bio to check against her records. In the mean time ... Captain, this may be presumptuous, but could I please have a tour of the *Andromeda?* You have no idea how long it's been since I've been offworld, and I do admire what you've been doing. Please?"

Dylan shrugged. "A small price to pay for helping one of my crew," Dylan said.

8

8

Sid and Tyr joined them as Dylan, Beka, and Rommie lead Sam through the *Andromeda's* winding maze of decks and corridors. Sid and Sam exchanged diplomatic pleasantries, then Sam chuckled. "If my husband could see me now," she said as they entered engineering. "He was never one for diplomatic niceties."

"How many husbands have you had?" Rommie asked.

"Just the one-" Sam started, then broke off, her jaw dropping as her eyes locked on one of the figures standing by a nearby console. "Oh my-DANIEL!?"

Daniel looked up from where he was going over reactor repairs with Mr. Kemp. "Um...yes-?"

"Omigod it's you it's you it's you!" She ran across the space and hugged the puzzled android. "It's really you! But how did you get here? Why didn't you try to contact me?"

"Because ... we never ... met?" Daniel stammered.

Sam pulled away, confused. "I... I'm sorry, I ... you just look like someone I used to know."

"Indeed?"

"So you are ..."

Daniel bowed his head in shame. "No one you would have had cause to know," he said. "I am the *Balance of Judgment.*"

"The AI of a High Guard ship who went rogue after the Fall," Rommie said. "He founded an army of fanatical terrorists who attacked interstellar shipping."

"I see," Sam said. "And ... you call yourself...?"

"This avatar is known as 'Daniel,'" Daniel explained.

"I see," she said. "Wow. You look so much like him. Sound like him, too."

"Like who?" Dylan asked.

"What? Oh, I'm sorry, Captain. My last assignment was with the SGC - Stargate Command. Dr. Daniel Jackson was a civilian linguist and anthropologist who worked with me on SG-1."

"I have an image on file," Rommie said.

"Can I see it!?" Sam said, as enthusiastic as a schoolgirl. "Please-I didn't keep any photos of them-"

"Of course. On screen."

A monitor lit up, and the scruffiest group of misfits ever to don military fatigues appeared.

Dylan nodded at the bespectacled, brown-haired man who looked like an accountant who'd got lost. "You're right, Sam, the resemblance is-"

"Oh my god!" Sid said, the color draining from his face as he pointed at the image of a muscular, bald black man with a gold design on his forehead. "Who's *that?*"

"That's Teal'c," Sam explained. "He was a Jaffa, a human subspecies that had been bread to-"

"That's him," Sid said. "Oh my god. That's him. There's no mistaking it. I could never forget *his* face. It's not possible, but that's-" Sid turned to Sam. "Excuse me, but couldn't that Stargate facilitate time travel?"

"Yeah," Sam said. "Why-?"

"Yeah, why!?" Beka demanded.

"For crying out loud, Sid, what the heck are you talking about?"

Sid crossed to his niece and gently put his hands on her shoulders. "I'm sorry, Rocket. Someone should have told you a long time ago..."

8

8

Sid and Nat had given up on finding anything of value in the long abandoned city-the only sign of habitation on the barren, arid, rocky planet - and were about to call Nancy back to the ship to leave when she radioed that something weird was happening with the ring thing in the central plaza.

They'd just got to her hiding place ten meters from it, sparks and lighting arcing over it, when a silver membrane exploded out of the middle of it. A man ran out of the membrane - tall, muscular, dark-skinned, bald, a gold design on his forehead, and a crying, fussing, bundle in his arms. He'd gone barely two steps when a bolt of golden energy exploded from the membrane and hit him in the back.

The man staggered, swerving to a pile of rubble, and sitting down, carefully holding the bundle, when another man in some kind of armor modeled after an animal and brandishing a staff weapon came out. He spied the black man, spat out some kind of language, and leveled his staff at the bald black man.

Nat had been on the wrong end of pursuits enough to put two and two together.

He jumped out of hiding. "HEY!" he shouted.

The armored man turned, surprised, and froze just long enough for Nat and Sid to get off several shots with their gauss pistols. The armored man fell to the ground, dead, as the membrane vanished and the ring thing became as inert as it had been when they'd found it.

"Nancy," Nat said, holstering his weapon. He came up to the black man slowly. "It's ok. This is my wife, Nancy, and her brother, Sid. She's our medic; she's going to check you out."

The man nodded once.

Nancy went over to him and passed a scanner over his back, and looked up. "Nat, I-Even if I knew what they'd hit him with, his physiology is so-"

"It's quite all right," the man said in a deep, strong voice. "A warrior listens to his body's messages, even the ones he does not wish to listen to." He looked down at the little bundle. "Forgive me, Rebecca O'Neill," he said, a single tear the only hint of his true feelings. "I will be unable to protect you. Or watch you grow to be as formidable as your parents."

Nat looked between the man and the baby several time before making a fateful decision. "I'll do it," he said.

The man looked up, puzzled.

"I'll take care of her," Nat went on. "And don't worry, those goons will never find her. I'll see to it."

He reached for the baby, but the bald black man drew on a reservoir of strength to hold her close, a determined grimace crossing his face. "Swear by whatever gods you believe in you will guard her life with your own!"

"I swear it," Nat said solemnly.

The man relaxed and relinquished his bundle. Seeing Nat holding the baby, he smiled for a moment, then settled back against the rocks behind him, his eyes falling shut. He looked like he was sleeping.

Only he would never wake up.

8

8

The ground was too hard to dig a grave, so they went to an outcropping at the edge of the city, overlooking a valley, and covered the bald black man's body with rocks. It was almost sunset by the time they'd finished, Rebecca still fussing in Nat's arms, the sun's rays painting the valley with red light and shadows.

"Someone should say something," Sid said as they stood over the grave.

"He kept his word," Nat said. "I'm sure of that. He would go to any extreme, pay any price, to keep a promise."

Sid turned to his brother-in-law. "Is that why you're doing this-?"

"I made him a promise, Sid; it means as much to me as if I had made it to either one of you."

"I know, Nat, but you and Nancy already have a mouth to feed."

"What would you have me do, Sid? Leave her at a Wayist orphanage or something like that?"

Sid's eyes flicked down to the baby. "No. I admit, I'm falling in love with her, too. But you saw the guys coming after her. We might be getting in over our heads."

"Maybe. But nothing worth doing is easy." Nat walked a few paces away from the grave, to look over the valley. He looked down at the baby in his arms. "Beka Valentine, meet the universe." And Nat - Ignatius Valentine, captain of the *Eureka Maru* - looked out over the valley. "Universe, meet Beka Valentine. Don't give my kid no lip. Or she'll kick your ass."

8

8

"What-?" the adult Beka Valentine stammered, years and light years away from the setting of Sid's fantastic story. "Are you saying-?"

"Oh my god," Sam said, her jaw almost slack. "I was just thinking of how much you reminded me of my-"

"No!" Beka said. "There is just no-I-There's no way. SHE IS NOT MY MOTHER!"

"Rocket-" Sid started.

"Don't 'Rocket' me!" Beka shouted. "How come no one told me? How come Rafe never told me?"

"Your brother was too young to remember, and we decided to keep it a secret. When several years went by without any guys in funny armor showing up, and no leads on ... Teal'c? ... on where Teal'c came from panning out, we kind of just-"

"I'm sorry." Agitated, Beka shuffled around the space. "I just don't buy this. This ... this is-"

"There are ways of checking," Dylan offered. "

I can run a series of tests to confirm maternity," Rommie said. "All my medical officer would need is a blood sample from each of you."

Sam didn't hesitate. "I'm all set!" she said, rolling up her sleeve.

Beka squinted at Sam, then turned to Rommie. "Not that I'm paranoid or anything, but you do it under the tightest security you got, Rommie, the kind you had for high muckamucks in the old Commonwealth."

"Done."

"Ok. C'mon, 'Mom,' let's go to Medical..."

8

8

No sooner did Andromeda report that the tests were done than Beka went straight to Medical to get it from the horse's mouth. "Well?" Beka demanded.

"Congratulations," Trance said, "you're a daughter."

Beka didn't smile. "If that was supposed to be funny, it went over my head. Start again, slowly."

Trance sighed. "Ok. I compared your DNA to Sam's. Accounting for the genetic surgery your dad had performed on you to enhance your reflexes, it's a 100% match."

"Could be coincidence. Genetic reincarnation."

"Not as good a chance of that as you'd think, but it only holds water if you don't check the mitochondrial DNA, which comes from the mother, and I did. It's a 100% match. Then I checked your blood chemistry; you and Sam share some nonhuman enzymes that she claims are related to having a symbiote die inside her. Then I ... Look, Beka, Andromeda and I performed every test I could think of short of exploratory brain surgery under tighter security than the Gallifreyan Panopticon, and the results all point to the same conclusion: Samantha is your biological mother."

"'Biological' is the key word," Beka snorted.

8

8

Beka pushed the sling chair back and forth in Trance's little cubbyhole on the *Maru;* the pixie's cabin doubled as the female officers' clubhouse when the *Maru* berthed in the *Andromeda,* and it gave Beka the perfect place to think, the ceiling strut's creaking the only sound disturbing her.

She turned at a knock on the doorframe; Sam poked her head around the corner. "I'm sorry," she said. "Am I disturbing you?"

"Yeah," Beka said, "but you might as well come on in."

Sam nodded and edged into the small cabin, a hand behind her back.

"So, 'Mom,' did you search me out for a little mother-daughter bonding?"

"Actually..." Sam pulled her hand out from behind her back. "I was hoping I could borrow these CDs from your collection. They were my favorites back in the day. If you don't mind."

"No; knock yourself out."

"Thanks. I'll bring them back in a day or two." Sam settled down in a sling chair opposite Beka, smiling but awkward all at once.

Beka wasn't smiling. "How's Harper?" she asked.

"Improving. I'll look in on him once I get back planetside."

"Thanks." Pause. "Uh, I guess you heard the news," Beka said.

Sam nodded. "Mmm-hmm."

"I just ...I..." Beka's hardnosed mask cracked a little. "I guess I'm trying to wrap my mind around the fact that my whole life is a lie."

"No it isn't! You are still who you were this morning, you just know something else about yourself. You have a family you never knew you had." She looked away for a moment. "I'm trying to get over the fact that after literally spending centuries trying to figure out where - or *when* - my baby girl went, she not only comes to me, but doesn't look any older than I am. Instead of mother-daughter bonding, we should - HEY! That's an idea. There are some really nice taverns down in the village. We should get all dolled up, hit the town, and break some hearts."

Beka fought hard to keep a smile from tugging at her face. "Iiii ... don't think so. I'm not really the partying kind..."

"Your father - my husband - said the same thing before the wedding. Afterwards, the home video of the reception suddenly became classified. You'll be fine! C'mon; how many women can say they went and got plastered with their mothers?"

"I don't drink."

"Not at all?"

"No."

"Oh ... well, how many women can watch their mothers get drunk? Or try to. Ydara doesn't let alcohol affect me unless I raise a really big stink. But I think I can let her let me off the leash this time."

Beka chuckled and shook her head. "I'll think about it."

"That's all I ask."

"So...you say you tried to figure out *when* the gate sent me?"

"Yes, but I never dreamed it had sent you and Teal'c into the future. I thought you and he had gone into the past, but I didn't find any evidence of that. If I had, I would have gone after you. God knows that's the only reason I would have time traveled again."

"I hear that."

"What-YOU TOO!?" Sam had the schoolgirl enthusiasm again.

Beka tried to shrug it off. "A couple of times. No, three if you think about it."

"Tell me about it! I want to hear every little detail."

"I don't-"

"Are we interrupting?" Rommie said as she and Nadya filed into the cubbyhole.

"No, not at all," Sam said. "Hi, Rommie. Commander."

"Major..." Nadya said. "Sorry-"

"No problem. It's good to hear rank used again."

"Tell me about it," Nadya said. "In case you haven't noticed, on this ship, the only exceptions to everyone being on a first-named basis is Harper calling his superiors 'Boss,' and my engineers calling him 'Chief.' I wonder if military protocol will survive the restoration of the Commonwealth."

"Sorry," Beka said.

"I meant no offense," Nadya said quickly. "But when you're in the military as long as I've been, protocol becomes as natural as breathing, and you miss it - takes a while to get used to not hearing it."

Beka frowned. "Hmm. Never thought of that."

"Anyway," Sam said, "you're all just in time. Beka was going to tell us about her experiences with time travel."

"OH GOD!" Beka looked up at the ceiling. "Mooooommmmmm-"

"*Now* you acknowledge I'm your mother?" Sam teased.

"Actually, I'd like to hear about them, too," Nadya said.

"Ok," Beka said. "The first time was - jeez, it wasn't long after we found you and Dylan, was it, Rommie ... ?"

8

8

Beka and Sam traded war stories for hours until Beka and Nadya started yawning. "You guys should get some rest," Sam said, getting up.

"I think I've been adopted," Nadya quipped between yawns.

"You don't have to leave, Sam," Rommie said. "I don't sleep. We can continue to talk."

"I'd like to, Andromeda; I don't need much sleep either. But I really should get back to the planet." She crossed to Beka. "But I just want to say ... Look, I am proud of you. You've had an extraordinary life."

Beka shifted uncomfortably, old feelings welling up within her. "No I haven't, not for the most part."

"Hey, any one of us in SG-1 would have said the same thing, but in our day, we shook the universe. And it is good to know that someone from my family is keeping up the good work..."

8

8

Sam stood just inside the door to Harper's room. Though not as austere as a monastic cell, it wasn't a luxury suite, either, but served its purpose. As Harper turned over in his sleep, moonlight shining on his face through the window, Sam's eyes started glowing...

8

8

"...and I am pleased to report that the recent crisis has allowed me to form a rapport with Regent Anasazi," Sid said during a morning meeting with Dylan and Rommie, "a meeting of minds-"

"So you know just how far you can trust each other," Rommie said.

"Don't scoff, Andromeda," Sid said. "You'd be surprised how often negotiations hinge on-"

"Captain!" Andromeda's screen image broke in. "We have received a priority message from Minister Freemont."

"On screen," Dylan said.

Freemont's angry face filled the screen. "Hunt! I don't know how it got out, but I hope you had nothing do with it. You're in enough hot water as it is." The screen blanked.

"Huh?" Dylan said.

"There is an attached file," Andromeda said. "It may shed some light on the minister's comments."

"By all means, open it."

And three pairs of human and mechanical eyes almost bugged out of their heads as a voice narrated the grainy black-and-white images playing on the screen: "...and this reporter has confirmed that this is indeed police surveillance footage of *Andromeda* engineer Seamus Harper patronizing the Galaxy of Love cyberbrothel on Sheherezade Drift..."

8

8

"You can both see him," Sam said to Dylan and Rommie, coming through the double doors into her clinic's anteroom, "but you have to turn these systems off." She handed a flexie to Rommie.

"Now, wait a minute," Dylan said, "she isn't-"

"Deal," Rommie said. Dylan almost gave himself whiplash from gawking at her.

"He's in the common room," Sam said, "three doors down on your right."

When they found Harper, they were pleased to see his burns had healed; apart from being in a wheel chair, he had much of his old energy back. But Dylan noted something ... there was something in the young man's manner, a harsh coarseness, that Dylan had never seen before.

"Mr. Harper?" Dylan said.

The young, pretty nurse Harper was talking to made a point of leaving very quickly. He smiled lewdly after her. "I should get burned to a crisp more often," he said, with an unfamiliar coldness in his voice, "if I was gonna recover someplace like this. I ain't so sure I want to leave." He turned to Dylan and Rommie. "What can I do ya for?"

"We have some questions for you," Dylan said. "We received information that you used to go to a cyberbrothel-"

"The Galaxy o' Love on Sheherezade? Yeah, I went there a few times."

"Really?"

"'Course. Only place where an android does anythin' worthwhile."

Dylan was speechless.

Rommie wasn't. "What..." Visibly upset, she struggled to contain herself. "What do you mean by that?"

"You know, Rommie."

"No, Harper, I don't."

"Well then I ain't tellin' ya. Like you was ever worth my time to begin with."

Rommie's jaw dropped.

"Mr. Harper!" Dylan looked around, realized he had the attention of other patients and nurses, and lowered his voice. "Mr. Harper, you will explain yourself. Now."

"Ok," Harper said. "It's simple. I been doin' a lot of thinkin', and I realized the *Andromeda* has been a total waste of time. I signed on for a hot shower an' hot sex with a hot 'bot soon as I could find one or build one. Well, the shower's ok. But it sucks to take them alone. It just ain't worth my time. Never was."

"You..." Rommie stammered. "Harper, I know we've had ... issues ... but I thought ... I..."

"You was wrong," Harper said. "You was just somethin' for me to make Mr. Happy happy, and ya never did. So I ain't gonna bother with ya no more."

"Well," Dylan said slowly. "I'm sorry to hear that, but I hope that won't impede your work once you-"

"Haven't you heard a word I said?" Harper snapped. "I QUIT! I gots no reason to stay aboard and risk my life. I'm stayin' here."

Before Dylan could say anything, Rommie turned and rushed out of the room.

Dylan turned back to his engineer. "We'll discuss this later, Mr. Harper."

"Whatever."

Once Dylan had left the room, and when he was certain no one was watching, Harper smiled to himself as his eyes started glowing ...

8

8

"Rommie!" Dylan finally caught up to her on the compound's manicured lawn, only because she had stopped in her tracks. "Rommie..."

"I don't believe it." She turned to Dylan, babbling, eyes unfocused. "It's not possible. I know Harper better than anyone. He couldn't have fooled me all these years. It's not possible. I'd have known, Dylan, I'd have-" She broke off, and her face twisted as she started to cry; she stepped forward until she bumped into Dylan's chest. He put his arms around her as she sobbed against him.

"It's all right," he said. "It'll be all right." If only he could have believed it.

8

8

Dylan looked up at the knock on his office doorframe. "Hi," Beka said, sticking her head in.

"Hey," Dylan said.

Beka entered the office, a flexie in her hands as she took some loping steps towards his desk. "How's it going?"

"Not good. It's becoming a real feeding frenzy back home - all sorts of dirt about you, Trance, even Rev is also coming out. Did Harper really go to that brothel?"

"Yeah," Beka said, sitting down.

"Damn. So much for that idea." He gestured at the flexie. "What's that?"

"It's ... uh ..." Beka ran her fingers along the flexie and looked at the floor for a moment. "Y'know, Dylan, when we first met you, I didn't give your restore-the-Commonwealth quest a week. But as things worked out, I realized that you had another problem which might bite us in the afterburners sooner or later. See, in order to even try to make it in the Universe today, you gotta be willin' to cut your losses, and you gotta be cold enough to get rid of anyone who might be causing you problems. And you don't have that in you. Or not as much as you should have. Like I'm one to talk. But it's a fact of life in the post-Fall Universe, and even still true under the new Commonwealth."

"I don't like where this is going."

"Neither do I. But if you want to get anything done without..." She trailed off and pushed the flexie across Dylan's desk. "It's my letter of resignation. Effective immediately."

Dylan picked up the flexie and read it. "Are you sure about this, Beka? We've been in tighter spots."

She smiled. "No, Dylan, we haven't. And this might be worse. It's one thing to blow up an enemy ship. But you're being tried and convicted in the court of public opinion because you know us. That's only going to hurt you."

"But still-"

"You said we could leave if the worst happened."

Dylan sighed and put down the flexie. "Is Trance leaving, too?"

"Considering I last saw her taking several boxes out of the *Maru,* I'd say 'no.' But you should check with her."

Dylan nodded. "But what will you do?"

"I've been out of circulation for a bit; may be tough getting salvage jobs at first. But I want to keep an eye on Harper." She forced a smile. "And I can get to know my mommy! Can't beat that."

Dylan nodded. "Before you go, you'll have to-"

"Kemp and Andromeda are already sanitizing the *Maru's* memory banks. And I've got a meeting with Nadya in ten minutes; I'll bring her up to speed."

"I see."

"She'll be ok. Hell, she'll probably be better than me, the kinda XO you want."

"I don't see how; I've already had the best."

Beka grinned and shook her head. "Don't get gushy on me, Dylan. I hate gushy."

"All right..."

8

8

She was tall, statuesque, feminine, and yet radiating a quiet strength, her long braids of blonde hair looping out from the back of her head, her clothes at once conservative and tasteful. She looked about as out of place in the dingy, dirty drift bar as one could possibly imagine, yet she moved through the patrons with a confidence that gave the riffraff pause, allowing her to pass unmolested. She came to a table where a small, dirty man sat alone, his hair greasy, his face dirty, yet he seemed energetic somehow.

He noticed her the minute she came to his table. "Well!" he said, putting down his mug. "Aren't you a sight for sore eyes? And a woman of taste, obviously, to call on old John Skeezles. So tell me who you are and what I can do to, ah, satisfy your needs?"

She brushed off his lewdness as one would brush dust off one's hand. "I am called Andra, Mr. Skeezles," she said, "and yes, there is something you can do for me..."

8

8

"You didn't have to come along, Dylan," Beka said, piloting the *Maru* to a landing in Sam's compound, one of the new shuttles close behind. "I'm a big girl; I can move out on my own."

"Well, if you won't let me give you a full military send off," Dylan said from the flight engineer's station, "then this will have to do."

"In other words, you just exchange one way to embarrass me for another. Nice." But she still grinned.

Dylan smiled back. "Hey, what are friends for?"

8

8

Once the *Maru* had touched down, Beka hovered around the outside of the ship as Sam's men got her things off. So she couldn't hide when Nadya came over from the shuttle.

"You piloted it down?" Beka said. "Nice bit of flying."

"Top of my class in Houston." She gathered her thoughts. "Beka-"

"Nadya, don't-"

"No, I have to say this: You've been a really good friend these past few months. Without you, my crew and I might not have adjusted to life on the *Andromeda* as quickly or as well. And you've given me a tough act to follow; I hope I can live up to it."

"*Me?* C'mon-"

"No, I mean it. My grandfather, a crusty old gunnery sergeant in the Marine Corps, told me the uniform is nothing in and of itself; it's the person who wears it who makes all the difference. Well, for someone who doesn't wear a uniform - and who, by the way, has a reputation for being something of an ogre when a crewman is unfortunate enough to address you with proper military courtesy (it's usually the other way around) - you certainly have what it takes to fill one with pride." Nadya stuck her hand out. "It's been - really, it's been an honor to have served with you, Beka. I mean it."

Beka shook her hand. "Gee, thanks-"

"Excuse me!" Kemp panted as he came over to them. "Commander, Beka. Have either of you seen Daniel?"

"No," Nadya said.

"You brought him along?" Beka said, incredulous.

"He insisted on coming," Kemp said. "And he gave me the slip a few minutes ago. I dunno, he's been acting funny since we got here."

Beka sighed and turned to Nadya. "Someone has to break the bad news to Dylan. That sound's like the XO's job, don't ya think?"

"Great," Nadya said. "I knew there was a reason I hated this job."

"Hey, someone has to nurse them baby ulcers," Beka quipped. "Comes with the territory."

8

8

Daniel crept along the wall of the main building. Avoiding Samantha's security had been child's play, a combination of timing, strategy, a little stealth technology in his body he'd managed to reactivate, and luck. Unfortunately, the last was probably the biggest factor so far. And even if he got out of here in one piece, going AWOL while in Kemp's custody would not help his case. But the feeling that he knew Sam from somewhere had only grown stronger since arriving on Charon Theta, along with the feeling that something was dreadfully wrong.

He found an unguarded back door and pressed his hand on the lock; the access code was ridiculously easy to override, and that the process - which only took a few microseconds - involved an expertise in languages he'd never known he had didn't surprise him. He would have been surprised if *nothing* odd had happened.

He crept down the utility corridor and found another door. Voices on the other side of it - guttural voices. He crept through the door and found himself on the other side of ornate curtains; he peaked through them and found himself in -

- a throne room!? Not a large one, by any means, the dais not very high and the chair not too ornate. But a throne room nonetheless. How odd given how unassuming Samantha/Ydara had been.

He saw Samantha herself sitting on the throne, leaning forward, concerned, while Harper, standing before her, clutched his head, in pain. Guards stood by, attentive, brandishing weapons at once familiar and alien to him. "If you can not control such a weak host, Sedara-" Sam threatened.

"He - aarrrgh!" Harper cried in a parasite's guttural tones. "I HAVE HIM! But he is willful, undisciplined, and-and-" Harper winced, then suddenly body slammed one of the guards, knocking him over, snatching up the man's pistol-like weapon. "Ok!" Harper said in his normal voice. "This is how we're going to do this ..." He winced - the symbiote within him fighting back? "Aaaarrrrhhhhh - we're going to find a radio, you and I, and we're going to call the *Andromeda*-"

"And tell them what?" Sam/Ydara prodded gently as she descended from the throne.

"KEEP BACK!"

Sam held still. "What do you intend to tell them?" the monster within her asked.

"For one thing, that all that stuff I said to Rommie wasn't me." Sam/Ydara chuckled.

"It wasn't!" Harper emphasized.

"Was it?" Ydara pressed. "Really, Mr. Harper, do you honestly think I was ignorant of the *Andromeda* and knew nothing about her crew? Apart from Samantha being Beka Valentine's mother, of course; both of us were as surprised as she was. But I digress. I know all about you, Seamus Harper. I know things about you even Beka and your precious Andromeda don't know." She took a half step forward. "You may play the clown, but in truth, you're little more than a thug, a street tough who caught a lucky break. I guess your cousin's gang wasn't allowing you upward mobility? So you left Earth to find new opportunities. And you're sitting pretty, I must say. But in point of fact, three hundred years ago, Dylan and Andromeda would not have given you a home. They would have arrested you, tossed you in their brig, and washed their hands of you as soon as they could find a magistrate to take your case. And they know it."

"No-" Harper seemed to be weakening a bit. "I-I ain't like that no more-"

"And as to Andromeda," Sam pressed, edging closer as Harper's resistance broke down, "we both know why you built her humanoid avatar: For sex. You claim you love her, but its nothing more than base lust. You try to impress her only because you hope she'll express her gratitude by coupling with you. But even a human woman could see what a disgusting little worm you are; who knows what an AI would think of you. Either way, all you're doing is broadcasting your ignorance about females for all to see. The truth is, she doesn't want you . She never has. She never will. NOTHING you can do will ever change that. And everything you've done, your uncouth behavior and transparent advances ... well, the way I see it, if she hadn't needed SOMEBODY'S technical expertise to keep her running without her High Guard crew, she never would have had anything to do with you. And now that she has a military crew, well..."

"No..." Harper's weapon began to drop. "Rommie 'n' me ... we're..."

"You say the things you said 'weren't you,' but you're wrong: It is the real you, just the part you hide, as much from yourself as from the people you think are your friends. All Sedara did was let it out for a breath of fresh air. So we can go to a communications room if you wish, but even if you can get out of here, get back to your ship, and somehow get your symbiote removed, do you think you'll ever be accepted again? Do you think everything will be just the way it was? Of course not. Sooner or later, Dylan and Andromeda will find a reason to part company with you. You might even think it's a good idea. But they won't look back. No one will."

Harper's hand flopped to his side.

"Go back to sleep," she urged, taking the weapon from him. "Your old life is over; there is nothing for you back on the *Andromeda.* Let Sedara worry about the big problems now. Like you could handle them before."

Harper lifted his head. His eyes flared. "I have him," he said in a guttural voice.

"Fool!" Ydara spat. "He should not have broken free at all."

Harper/Sedara tapped his dataport. "Perhaps this instrument, by allowing him to interface with computer systems, has allowed him to gain some skill in combat on the plain of-"

"KREE!" A voice shouted behind Daniel. He turned to see a guard running at him down the service corridor.

"Ah!" Daniel said. "No cause for alarm - I've found the problem. I think it'll be a simple matter for a seamstress to mend this and no one will notice-" He ripped down the curtain, hurled it at the guard, and turned and ran down the service corridor.

But not before Sam/Ydara had seen him.

"Stop him!" she thundered. "Do not let that pile of Vedran junk escape! Or I will have your heads!"

8

8

Daniel ran across the grounds, ducking, bobbing, and weaving to avoid the squads of guards his body's sensors had detected. Unfortunately, the com traffic he picked up indicated they had sensors that could lock onto him - no advantage there. And though he was physically more powerful than a human by several orders of magnitude, he was outnumbered and outgunned. He needed someplace to duck off their radar, to think, plan his next move, and make his escape. A large, dome-like building near the central garden was opaque to his sensors; hopefully, it would be opaque to the enemy's. True, it wouldn't take them long to figure out where he'd gone, but the advantage of an AI is it doesn't need time to think, as opposed to -

'And how would you know that, Daniel?'

He shoved the thought aside and hugged the shrubbery, just barely avoiding another squad of armed guards, and got to a door to the dome. He palmed the lock, accessing it with a thought, and ducked inside. He made his way through a maze of boxes, crates, and shelves. He found some of the odd, snake-like pistol weapons, and scooped up a couple. Then around more boxes and into the translucent dome's central area - - where he froze. It sat on a platform in the middle of the space, three or four meters wide, an ornate metal ring. Near the base of the platform, an odd control console. He drew closer. The ... characters, pictograms on the keys were matched by those on the object's inner ring -

_- and he is in the room under the mountain again, facing the ... Stargate? But yes, that is what it is. And they are there again, the older soldier, the alien warrior, the woman who was now host to a monster, and - _

_'Who are you?' _

_people _

_places _

_things _

_life _

_death _

_life again _

_and_

"Look familiar?" Sam said behind him in Ydara's guttural voice, in a language Daniel had never heard before, a language he instantly understood even though it was impossible.

He spun and leveled his pistol at her.

"Or just curious?" she went on.

"I've never seen you or the Stargate before today," Daniel said in the same language.

"But you know what it is?"

"I have records of it." A lie, but he had no qualms about lying to the ... *thing* living within Beka's mother. "And I know what you are, too: A Goa'uld."

She smiled and chuckled. "Well, I guess it's good someone finally figured it out. I was beginning to think Captain Hunt and his intrepid crew didn't live up to their reputation."

"Oh, he already knows what I know," Daniel bluffed, edging in the general direction of an exit he'd detected earlier. "I've been in constant contact with the *Andromeda's* core AI the whole time. His forces will arrive any minute to take you down."

"I doubt it. In fact, I know you're lying. Even if I didn't know his forces are *not* landing, and that you have been acting on your own, there's no way he could have known. One good thing to come out of the war is that having our power base obliterated meant we had to learn to 'lie low,' to mask ourselves. Without our armies to support us, we can not assume the mantle of godhood, at least not openly. Not yet."

"So you had to become the proverbial wolf in sheep's clothing."

"If you like. And what are you? A man in machine's clothing?"

"I...I am the *Balance of Judgment.*"

"I see. Not that pesky scholar reborn?" She shrugged. "All right then."

Daniel lowered the weapon a tad, puzzled by Sam/Ydara's suddenly relaxed demeanor.

"You can die quickly!" Her hand flashed up and the palm device in it flared before Daniel could react; sparks flew from his body as he felt his systems crashing. Sam watched as Daniel crashed into another pile of boxes which collapsed on top of him. She - or the thing inside her - smiled for a moment, but grew stern as her guards charged in from behind her. "It took you long enough." She pointed. "Bring me the mechanical man's body." The guards snapped to it. As they sifted through the boxes, she planned her next moves: Once she had completely fried the android's CPU, she would return it to Dylan, explaining how it had assaulted her, and she had feared for her life. She had had to defend herself. And hadn't this *Balance of Judgment* been a terrorist? Yes, that would be accepted, that would -

"Mistress!" a guard snapped. "You should see this."

Sam pushed through her guards, to the dome wall just beyond the boxes, and the hole that had been either burned or punched through it by a superhuman effort of will, a hole big enough for a man - or an android - to crawl through.

Sam's eyes flared in rage. "JAFFA KREE! Find him!"

8

8

"Any sign of Daniel?" Dylan asked as present and former officers convened in the *Maru's* cockpit.

"No," Nadya said.

"I take full responsibility, sir," Kemp said. "I shouldn't have brought him here."

"It's all right," Dylan said, "not your-"

"Incoming transmission," the *Maru's* computer announced.

"On screen."

Sam's face filled the monitor. "I'm sorry to keep you waiting, Dylan," she said genially, "but it can be a mad house around here sometimes. What can I do for you?"

"Daniel, the Balance of Judgment avatar, has gone AWOL," Dylan explained. "Have you seen him?"

Sam shook her head slowly. "No, I'm sorry, I don't know where he is."

"Maybe I should bring down some more security; we can-"

"Dylan," Beka said. "Stand by, Major." Dylan turned to Beka as the screen blanked for a moment. "What?"

"I hate goodbyes as much as you do," Beka said, smiling, "but this is ridiculous."

Dylan sighed and looked down at his feet.

"Sam and I will keep and eye out for him," Beka went on. "When we find him, we'll contact the Commonwealth, and they can send someone for him. You have places to go, a universe to save. As usual. So get out of here."

Dylan nodded. "Maru, resume transmission."

Sam returned to the monitor. "I'm sorry, Captain, you were saying-"

"Change of plan," Dylan said. "Captain Valentine has volunteered to inform the Commonwealth should Daniel show himself." His eyes found Beka. "We ... we have a mission to complete."

"I see. Sorry I couldn't have been more helpful. Out." Sam left the monitor.

Kemp and Nadya muttered more goodbyes, leaving Beka and Dylan alone.

"Beka-"

"Dylan. Please. Don't embarrass yourself."

"All right."

They started to shake hands. "Ah, what the hell!" Beka said, and pulled Dylan into a bear hug; he returned it. "You..." Beka said, somehow holding a smile, "you and that big, silver busybody, you take care of yourselves, you hear? Or I'll kick your butts."

"Aye, aye, Captain Valentine."

They pulled away and looked at each other, but there was nothing more to say. Dylan turned and left the *Maru.* Beka leaned on the railing above the pilot's station and let the tears dribble down her cheeks.

8

8

Dylan kept his face a mask of stone as, in the shuttle's pilot seat, he opened the throttles and the vehicle lifted off. In the co-pilot's seat, Nadya pointed. Dylan looked in that direction, then turned the shuttle, banking it into a circle. Beneath him, he could see a figure standing on top of the *Maru's* cargo pod, waving. Dylan smiled and waved, then pulled back on the controls, and guided the shuttle into the sky.

8

8

Beka kept waving for a few seconds after the shuttle began to pull up, then just stood and watched as it became a dot in the sky and vanished. Then she became aware of Sam standing next to her.

"Hey," Sam said.

"Hi."

Sam rubbed her daughter's shoulder. "How ya doin'?"

"Well, considering I just said goodbye to a dear friend who just happened to change my life..." She trailed off.

"I know." Sam's smiled broadened. "C'mon! There are some people I want you to meet."

"Who?"

"Just c'mon!"

Beka could barely keep up as she followed Sam into the cargo pod, then down one of the docking tunnels, and into the *Maru* - - where she found herself surrounded by a dozen men, brandishing some funny looking pistols.

Beka's eyes found her mother. "Sam! What the heck's going on?"

Sam's eyes flared. "What's going on," she said in Ydara's guttural voice, "is your reeducation. You are going to learn how to worship me."

Before Beka could say anything, she felt an electric shock, and everything went black.


	3. Part 2

"Captain on deck!" the sergeant at arms bellowed as Dylan and Rommie came onto the command deck for the morning watch. Dylan almost missed a step. "As you were," he said, barely making it before people started to snap to attention and salute.

Rommie smirked. "Almost forget it?"

"Don't you start, Rommie."

"Mmm-hmm."

"Good morning, Commander Ratmanski."

"Good morning, Captain." Nadya handed him a flexi as she yielded the captain's podium to him. "Ship's status."

"Thank you." He read the flexi ... and then started to sneak glances up from it. Dylan wore a light blue shirt, a dark blue jacket with blue leather shoulder pads, and dark blue plants with white stripes down the pants legs. Not loud in and of itself, but compared to the command crew's conservative black High Guard uniforms -

"Commander."

"Captain?" Nadya said.

"You take the con. I ... I have to take care of something." He left the deck as quickly as he could without running.

Rommie watched him leave. She frowned, then looked 'round the deck, then down at herself.

Or, more precisely, at her red-and-blue top's low neckline.

"Um..." Rommie edged towards the door. "Nadya, I'll see you in a bit. Ok? Ok." She hurried out.

8

8

By sheer coincidence, Dylan and Rommie, now conservatively dressed, returned to the command deck at the same time, and Dylan was quicker with his 'As you were.'

"Sorry I'm late," Trance said, coming on deck in her bronze, low-cut leather battle armor. "I had quite the time getting all my things properly arranged in-" She realized she had Dylan and Rommie's attention. "What?"

Dylan and Rommie looked at each other, then turned back to the golden goddess. "Nothing," they said in unison, and made a point of going back to their work.

8

8

"Weird," the tech said as he inspected the underbelly of the shuttle Dylan had piloted back from Charon Theta.

"What?" his mate said. "You find something-?"

"No, it's just weird not having the *Maru* in this hangar," he said. "Every day, for eight months I've seen her here, and-" he stopped, reaching up into the shuttle's right-rear wheel well. "What the- there's something-"

With a loud crash, something fell out of the well and down to the hangar floor. When the tech had regathered his wits (and mentally noted that, as counterintuitive as it seemed, he had not soiled his underwear in the last five seconds), he realized he was looking at the very inert, and apparently, very damaged form of Balance of Judgment humanoid avatar 003, also known as Daniel.

"Andromeda-!" he called.

8

8

Beka became aware that she was lying on a cold surface; as she opened her eyes, blinking against the light, she also realized there was something funny on her wrists. Like cuffs.

"You're awake," a guttural voice said. "Good."

The guttural voice barked an order and something yanked on Beka's wrists, bringing her to her feet, her arms held painfully above her. As her vision cleared, she found herself facing a dais, Sam, wearing an elegant white dress, sitting on the throne, Harper standing next to her in some kind of black leather uniform ... and both of their eyes glowing.

"What..." Beka looked around, taking in the ad hoc throne room. "Sam, what the hell is this? And ... worshipping? Tok'ra weren't into anything like this."

"I never said I was Tok'ra," Ydara said through Sam's mouth, "and no one bothered to ask. How surprising that such an expert confidence woman as you would be such an 'easy mark.'"

"What ... you mean ..." Beka lunged forward with what little energy she could muster, straining against her bonds. "Are you saying-?"

"Oh, you're concerned that my host is not really your mother?" Ydara said. "That this was all an elaborate deception? Well, no, Beka, if it will put your mind at ease, you truly are Samantha's daughter. Your friends' maternity tests were nothing if not exhaustive, checking factors even I had forgot about. If Sam were not your mother, it would have been discovered. So you can take some comfort from that little truth, even if it makes things worse for you.

"You see, Rebecca," Sam/Ydara went on, descending from her throne, "what no one seems to credit the Goa'uld for is a firm belief in family ties. It was because of our influence that the Jaffa believed in absolutely unconditional love between parents and offspring. Even if it did not help us control them, neither we nor the Tok'ra could conceive of any other sort of relationship, and we took pains to promote it. So from that perspective, I was truly happy you had found your way back to your mother. I even looked forward to having you serve me.

"But, unfortunately, you are also the daughter of one of our ... how do I put this? ...one of our most persistent and irritating adversaries. I won't flatter Jack O'Neill by saying he was our 'greatest enemy,' but he cost us much, more than even he knew. There must be an accounting."

"So what are ye going to do?" Beka asked. "Kill me for the sins of my father?"

"No," Sam rumbled, "although you will pay. There are many ways to bend one of your kind to our will. Some are easy, painless. Other methods are ... more basic, painful. I have chosen the latter for you." She turned to Harper. "And I know just who to assign the task to."

Harper smiled as he picked up a golden cylinder from a table by the throne. He tabbed a stud, and an energy whip blossomed from one end of it.

"I actually like him," Sam said as Harper came down from the dais and began to circle around behind his former captain. "I'm thinking of making him my consort. How do you like the idea of calling Harper 'dad'?"

"What..." Beka stammered. "No, Harper, Sam-fight them-"

"You're wasting your breath," Sam said. She turned and headed back towards the throne.

"I know you, Harper," Beka pleaded. "I know you don't want to do this. I know-"

"You don't know nothin' about me, Boss," Harper said in his normal voice. "You never did." And in a guttural voice: "The truth has set him free."

"No." Beka returned her attention to Sam. "Sam ... Momma. Fight her! You can do it - if you're my mother, then I know you're strong enough-"

"ENOUGH!" Sam/Ydara snapped her gaze back to Beka. "Samantha's will is my will," she said, taking her throne. "Oh, she did fight me, once, but that was long ago. She has since learned not to challenge her god. As will you." She nodded to a figure Beka could no longer see. "Begin."

Beka heard the whip crackle, then felt its electric shock against her back. She'd never felt anything so painful before. "AAARRRRRHHH!" she cried. "You BITCH! I'll kill you-" The whip snapped again. "AARRGH! I don't care if you're my mother. I'll freakin' kill you!"

"Such language," Ydara lamented, "but you will learn to respect your elders." And she smiled as Harper wound up for another strike.

8

8

Kemp looked up from the figure of Daniel, prone on a work bench with dozens of cables from ceiling and wall panels plugged into open access ports in his head, torso, and limbs. "Ok," Kemp said to his assistant, "I think we've replaced all of the damaged parts. Start reconnecting his neural net."

"Mr. Kemp?" Dylan said as he and Rommie entered the machine shop. "You wanted to see me?"

"Yes, Captain." Dylan nodded towards Daniel. "How is he?"

"Better than I thought at first. He took some heavy damage, but it looks like once he got in the wheel well, he redirected all his power into keeping his neural net active." Kemp tabbed a control panel; a screen filled with a miasma of characters and symbols. "Don't ask me what's going on in there, though. It's a real mess." He pinched the bridge of his nose. "Harper picked a heluva time to quit; he would have figured this out two hours ago just from looking at him. Me, I have to plod along the old fashioned way. Andromeda must be real patient with me, 'cause I haven't been blown out an airlock yet-"

"Don't sell yourself short, Mr. Kemp," Rommie said. "You're doing fine."

"Yeah, well, anyway, we should have Daniel on his feet ... jeez, in a couple of minutes, I think, and we can find out what's going on."

"Is that why you called me here?" Dylan asked.

"Not entirely," Kemp said. "I said I was plodding. I may have found something Harper might have missed, if you can believe it." He tabbed a control. A holographic life-sized schematic of Daniel appeared in the room, showing his inner workings, some components in his chest highlighted in red. "Here we have Balance of Judgment Avatar 003 in all his glory," Kemp explained, "and you can see that despite extensive damage, many vital components weren't touched. Otherwise, he'd be scrap metal. But anyway, Daniel here is pretty much hand-made, a Seamus Harper original, and I wanted to compare him to a factor model avatar, so I would have an idea of how to fix him. And here's what I found." Kemp tabbed another control; another schematic appeared next to Daniel's. "This is Judgment humanoid avatar 001-" Kemp said.

"Gabriel," Rommie said.

"Right," Kemp said. "Note the difference in the internal arrangement of his systems. And if we superimpose the hits Danny took onto Gabe..."

The red blobs appeared on Gabriel's body, and several of the internal parts began blinking in white.

"Total system shut down," Kemp said. "Basically, Harper changed the internal design from the factory standard, so those same vital components weren't in the same places they'd be in the standard design. That's why Daniel is still ticking - whoever shot him was aiming for places his vital systems weren't located at."

"So you're saying he survived because Harper built him?" Rommie yelped.

"More than that," Dylan said. "He's saying someone on Charon Theta has weapons and tactics specifically geared for fighting High Guard avatars."

"Harper!?" Rommie yelped. "I don't-"

"GOOAA-UUULD!" Daniel shouted, sitting up with quick, jerky movements, straining against the cables. "Numberslettersnumbersletters ..." He laughed. "Bigger kick than that arm band." He got on his feet, and began weaving around the room, sparks flying as the cables pulled against the ceiling and wall panels. "Errorrorrorrorro-Like the Terminator. 'I'll be bahck!' Ha ha. Livenotlivelivenotlive-not possible. Balance of Judgment notnotnotnot but amamamamamamamam-"

"Rommie!" Dylan said. "Stop him!"

Rommie rushed to the jerking android and grabbed his wrists. But Daniel reversed her grips and grabbed her hands, palm-to-palm. "Help. Me. Un. Der. Stand," he said.

The real world slipped away from Rommie as she was yanked into Daniel's VR matrix. The ride was unlike any she had experienced before - buffeted by a data stream as she raced through a landscape of cascading images and data, her ears assailed by roaring winds, explosions, voices, and -

_... and she is in a room. A ballroom, she thinks, or a meeting room, at a hotel in either case. Daniel is on a platform, trying to explain a theory to the audience lounging in folding chairs. Only Daniel is different, bespectacled; his hair a wild, uncut brown mop; wearing a rumpled, wrinkled suit that looks like he may have slept in (but androids don't sleep so what is). He is explaining a theory, something about languages, ancient Egypt ... his audience won't hear any of it. When they tire of heckling him, they file out, only one man left for Daniel to try and convince, but there is only pity and sadness in the man's eyes ... but the old woman is there, near an exit, listening, genuinely interested... _

_**doc** _

_…outside, driving rain, drenching Daniel and his two bags. A soldier directs him to a ground car. 20th century Earth vintage. How...? He sits next to the old woman ... she offers him a job, translation, a chance to prove his theories right ... _

_**tor** _

_... the mountain ... under the mountain ... soldiers ... the cover stones ... Daniel correctly translates the outer track; it's Stargate, not ... inner track a mystery ... then spies a newspaper ... constellations! He has the answer. They come. He explains. They listen. 'The device.' A soldier nods ... Rommie recognizes him: Jack O'Neill ... his eyes haunted by grief and death ... why is he here? ... the blast doors open ... Daniel sees it for the first time, the Stargate ... _

_**dan** _

_... through the gate ... "What a rush" ... A desert world, a pyramid ... can't find the symbols to reopen it for the trip home ... most of the men taunt him, but Jack ... Why is he here? Rommie knows the look in his eyes; he wouldn't be here unless - the village, or city, greeted, feted ... the woman, exotic with black, curly hair ... the catacombs, Daniel learns the story ... seventh symbol gone ... captured, fights ...Ra ... Daniel finds the secret cargo, a bomb ... _

_"It was a one way mission," Rommie says. "For Jack anyway. That's why they chose him. Something happened ... I saw that look in too many soldiers who fought the Magog. He'd lost the will to live." _

_"Yes," Daniel says, "but fortunately, it didn't work out that way-" _

_**i** _

_... uprising ... battle ... Ra's funeral pyre is a short-lived blaze in the sky, destroyed by the bomb from Earth ... Daniel stays behind ... peace, love, family, belonging for the first time in his life ... 'I'll be seeing you around, Doctor Jackson.' _

_"If only it had lasted. I would have given my soul for it to have lasted. But it didn't." _

_**el** _

_... they come back ... she is taken ... he rejoins Jack, and others join them ... Sam, Teal'c, General Hammond ... a new organization, Stargate Command, and its backbone, SG-1 ... _

_**jack** _

_... the gate opens the universe to them ... races, places, friends, enemies... his wife is found, she dies, but he has to go on, keep traveling the stars ... _

_**son** _

_... it comes faster and more furious than Rommie can handle ... _

_...the world explodes... _

_sight _

_sound _

_smell _

_touch _

_taste _

_places _

_people _

_things _

_life _

_death _

_life again _

_and _

_'Do you believe in reincarnation, Jack?' Daniel and Jack are sitting on the roof of an apartment building, sipping beers, a quiet evening, a rare break in the storm. _

_'Garbage,' Jack pronounces. 'Lies.' _

_'I came back.' _

_'Never said the universe was perfect.' Jack laughs at his own joke, then turns serious. 'I guess this is going someplace?' _

_'Yes,' Daniel says. _

_'Ok. Let's say I believe there just MIGHT be something to it. So what?' _

_'Have you given any thought to what you might come back as?' _

_'You mean, like a cockroach or a pigeon ... ?' _

_'Or a machine?' _

_''Scuse me?' _

_'Many cultures believe even inanimate objects have souls. Why not?' _

_'Well, I guess it would be cool to come back as a Mustang convertible.' _

_'Or ... even ... a space ship?' _

_That gets Jack's attention for some reason; he sits up straighter. _

_'What's this about, Daniel?' _

_'Um...' As awkward as ever, Daniel fumbles with a note pad on the ledge next to him. 'I kind of dozed off for a moment during the briefing this morning-' _

_'I kind of noticed.' _

_'Yeah, well, when I came to, I'd drawn this.' He hands the pad to Jack. _

_Jack looks at the paper in surprise. '*That's* a space ship?' _

_'Yeah ... and I think it's me. Or will be me.' _

_Rommie looks over Jack's shoulder. She recognizes the ship in the drawing. It is ..._

_ ... the *Balance of Judgment* comes out of the stars, at her ... she plunges through the window into the observation deck, where Gabriel stands, arms folded ... she falls into the storms of energy boiling behind his eye ... _

**_doctordanieljackson_ **

Energy arced between Rommie and Daniel's hands as she fell away from him.

"ROMMIE!" Dylan dropped to her side, then raged up and got in Daniel's face. "If you've hurt her-"

"She will be all right." Daniel sounded shy and awkward, and for some reason, couldn't look at Dylan. He chuckled. "Huh. It really is like something out of *The Terminator.* Jack would have won that bet-"

"What are you ... LOOK AT ME-!"

"Dylan!" Rommie picked herself off the floor.

"I'm all right."

Dylan crossed to her. "What happened?"

"I ... I'm not sure... but I think-"

"Captain," Andromeda's screen image interrupted, "an unidentified vessel has transited to normal space in our vicinity and is closing."

"On my way." Dylan looked at Kemp. "Fix him up, then bring him to Command. I want some answers."

"You shall have them," Daniel said to the retreating captain's back, "but I don't know if you'll be prepared for them anymore than I was..."

8

8

"Talk to me," Dylan said, cutting off the sergeant at arms.

Tyr's image filled one of the screen. "I have weapons locked on the target, although in the interest of amity for the negotiations, *I* have decided to hold fire."

"Thank you," Dylan said; Tyr could play superior as much as he wanted for the moment. He was more concerned about the strange ship.

"It's High Guard," Rommie said, "but I've never seen that class before. Call letters show ... Dylan, it has *Vedran* registry."

"Life signs?" Dylan asked.

"It should have a complement of hundreds," Rommie said, "but I only detect one human ... We're being-"

A striking blonde woman, her braids looping behind her head, filled one monitor, backed by a schematic of the strange ship. "Greetings Captain Hunt..." Her gaze shifted to Rommie. "...Grandmother."

"'Grandmother'?" Nadya said.

"I am the Vedran Starship *Andromeda Triumphant,*" she went on. "You may call me Andra."

"Another family reunion," Tyr groaned.

"Must be the season," Nadya quipped.

Dylan cleared his throat. "If you don't mind?... Thank you. Andra, can I speak to your commanding officer?"

"I'm sorry, Captain Hunt, but I do not have an organic crew."

"Then how did you navigate the slipstream?" Rommie asked.

"With a map provided by the Vedrans."

"Indeed?" Tyr asked.

"I request permission for my avatar to come aboard."

"Permission granted," Dylan said.

"I'll come as well," Tyr said. "I have to see this..."

8

8

Tyr arrived first, so he was waiting at the hangar's inner airlock with Dylan, Nadya and Rommie when Andra came through, leading a small, dirty man in shackles.

"This is Mr. John Skeezles," Andra explained. "His trade, if one can call it that, is facilitating the movement of goods, products, and - most importantly - information between parties who do not move in the same circles and do not want to admit to contact with one another."

"What's that got to do with us?" Dylan asked.

Andra turned to Skeezles. "Tell them!"

His head bobbed an affirmative. "That stuff that got out about the Valentine woman and the rest," he said, "I got that to the press."

"From whom?" Dylan asked.

"That healin' lady."

"Lady Samantha's agents approached Mr. Skeezles and paid him to act as their go-between," Andra said. "She wanted to publicly discredit your crew, apparently intent on separating Captain Valentine and Engineer Harper from your ship's company."

"Why?" Dylan demanded.

"And how could she have known Harper would decide to leave?" Rommie added.

"Because she's a Goa'uld," Daniel said, coming up to them (Kemp panting along behind him, struggling to keep up).

"And so's Harper, too, I'm afraid."

"Harper?" Rommie squeaked.

"Yes, Andromeda. I saw it with my own eyes. I'm sorry."

The sad, big-eyed look on Rommie's face gave way to rage. "That snake is dead!"

"I will attend to it," Andra said. "The planet has, in truth, a planetary defense grid whose stealth technology renders it invisible to your scanners but not mine. Captain Hunt, I am releasing Mr. Skeezles to your custody. I suggest you-"

"Captain," Daniel pressed, "if you let her go to Charon Theta, she'll destroy the planet. I'm certain of it."

Rommie frowned at the other 'Andromeda.'

"But you don't have the firepower to ..." Her eyes went big again.

"A suicide mission?"

"Of course," Daniel said.

"And how would you know?" Andra snapped.

"Because I'm not willfully blind," Daniel said. "Why did the Vedrans create AIs? What advantage did they offer? Here's a thought: Would it have something to do with the fact that a Goa'uld can't blend with a machine?"

"What-?" Andra stammered. "That information is privileged. How do you-?"

"The Goa'uld conquered Tarn Vedra, didn't they?" Daniel pressed. "*Didn't they?*"

"Yes," Andra admitted, stunned by Daniel's forcefulness. "A quirk in their biology made Vedrans unusually susceptible to Goa'uld control techniques. So much so that organizing a resistance force was impossible."

"So they built an army," Daniel said. "You're just doing what AIs before ... US ... did thousands of years ago: Going on a suicide mission against the Goa'uld oppressors. Probably explains slipstream travel, too - it afforded interstellar travel by means other than the Goa'uld used, thereby avoiding their forces."

"And after the rebellion won, the winners founded the Vedran dynasty?" Dylan said. "I have a little trouble with that."

"I don't," Tyr said. "The truth is all revolutions are contests between elites. Far from rising up, the people are pawns in a greater game."

"But..." Rommie said.

"You are going to try and rescue Beka and Harper, right?"

"I am sorry, Grandmother, but my superiors have declared them casualties of war."

"Like hell!"

A klaxon sounded, rousing the crew to battle stations.

"I'm being painted by targeting scanners," Andra said, stunned.

"Grandmother-"

"DON'T YOU DARE CALL ME THAT!" Rommie raged.

"If you can stand there and honestly tell me you're not even going to try and rescue High Guard officers from a planet you're going to obliterate, then you have nothing to do with me. You're a disgrace to our name!"

"But..." Andra turned to Dylan.

"Captain Hunt. Please. I have no desire to fire on you. Intervene, I beg you."

"All right." Dylan turned to Rommie. "Andromeda, you sounded battle stations without getting my order first. Make a note to wait for the order next time."

"Aye, Captain."

"There."

"But ..." Andra stammered.

"Andromeda and I are in agreement on many things," Dylan said. "And one of them is we recover lost crew, no matter what."

"I'm sorry, Captain, but I have my orders."

"You'll have to get through me to carry them out!" Rommie snarled.

"Excuse me," Daniel interjected, surprisingly calm given the circumstances, "but shouldn't the interests of the SGC be considered? Strictly speaking, Major Carter-O'Neill has been compromised, and her capture should be a priority of any mission against her."

"You are correct," Andra admitted, "but unfortunately, Earth's SGC no longer exists; there are no representatives of that agency to take Major Carter-O'Neill into custody."

"You're wrong."

Daniel found himself the center of attention. He played the moment for all it was worth:

"I am Doctor Daniel Jackson of Stargate Command," he said. "Bringing Major Samantha Carter-O'Neill in is my responsibility, and I intend to exercise it."

"That is not possible," Andra said. "You are the avatar of the *Balance of Judgment.* The real Daniel Jackson, a human from Earth, died approximately three thousand years ago-"

"Yes, and I can say from firsthand experience that crucifixion is worse than it's cracked up to be. Nevertheless-"

"Wait-" Andra was a lousy poker face - if she knew how to hide her surprise, she didn't try. "'Crucifixion'? The exact manner of Daniel Jackson's death is privileged information. Outside the Royal Family, only selected officers and AIs know. So how could you know?"

"Because I was there. Because it was *me.* Would my knowing other restricted details about my life and career constitute proof of my identity?"

"It might."

Daniel extended his hand. "Ready when you are."

Andra took his hand; both androids closed their eyes. Nothing happened for several minutes. Then they opened their eyes; Andra released Daniel's hand and shuffled back, visibly shaken. "This..." she stammered, "this is impossible. You can not be-"

"Anyone other than who I claim to be, the reincarnation of Daniel Jackson," Daniel said. "You've seen my memories; Andromeda can verify their authenticity."

"It's true," Rommie said. "He has Dr. Jackson's memories."

"Barring evidence to the contrary - which you won't find," Daniel pressed, "you have no choice but to recognize me as the last surviving member of Stargate Command, and my right to apprehend one of our rogue members, Major Samantha Carter-O'Neill, also known as Ydara."

Andra was visibly torn. "My mission parameters do allow me wide latitude in choosing the means to perform my missions. But I do not know if I can make a radical change without authorization from my superiors."

"Oh, I'm sure they'll understand," Dylan said.

"Especially given that the SGC would have been a natural ally," Daniel put in.

"But if you are really concerned," Tyr said, "cede operational command of the mission to the good Captain Hunt. You can always blame him if things go wrong."

"Yes..." Andra mused. "Yes, that will work. Thank you, Regent Anasazi. Command of the mission is yours, Captain Hunt. I will return to my ship and await your orders." She spun on her heel and left.

"What do you know?" Tyr said. "A self-interested machine. Perhaps there is such a thing as artificial intelligence after all."

"The regent really wants my internal defenses to malfunction, doesn't he?" Rommie quipped.

"That's enough, children," Dylan said, crossing to Daniel. "Thank you. But if this is a scam-"

"It isn't," Daniel said, "although I wish it was. As Jack O'Neill might say, reincarnation sucks."

"Be that as it may," Tyr said, "what now?"

"Dylan to command," Dylan said. "Reverse course-we're returning to Charon Theta. Alert the Nietzschean fleet and the *Andromeda Triumphant* of our actions."

"Aye sir," a voice said from the air. "Changing course to nearest slip portal."

"Very well."

"My former captain has a plan?"

"Yes, Tyr, I do..."

8

8

"You wanted to see me?" Dylan said, entering the machine shop. He found Daniel leaning against a wall by the entrance, already dressed in battle fatigues, Rommie lying on an inclined table in the middle of the room, stripped to her underwear, mechanical arms from the walls and ceiling poking in access ports in her arms, legs, and chest.

"Go ahead," Daniel said. "Tell him-you won't like it, Dylan."

"What won't I like? Rommie?"

"I've beefed up our internal defenses and our auto-repair systems," Rommie said, her eyes on the ceiling. "With luck, Samantha's weaponry won't have such an adverse effect-"

"Tell him the part about Harper. You really won't like it, Dylan."

"I'll be the judge of that, if you don't mind, 'Dr. Jackson.' Rommie?"

"I've added additional buffers to further step down the data transfer rate in my I/O channels," Rommie explained. "That should make it safe for me to use Harper's dataport to access his body's nanobots and program them to-"

"She's going to use the dataport to access Harper's mind," Daniel interrupted. "She hopes to help break his mind free of the Goa'uld's control by a direct confrontation."

"Rommie? Is that true?"

"Yes."

The mechanical arms finished their work, retreated to their slots in the walls and ceiling, and the access panels in Rommie's body snapped shut, leaving not so much as a seam to belie her appearance as a beautiful human woman. The table came to a vertical position, and Rommie stepped away from it.

"Daniel was right-" Dylan said, "I don't like it. Even if you can do it without frying Harper's nervous system, you'll be putting yourself on the Goa'uld's home turf. He could shut down your systems with a stray thought."

"I will have to confront the Goa'uld and get past it to access Harper's nanobots," Rommie said as she pulled on her BDU.

"Are you sure this is the only way?"

Rommie turned to Daniel. "Will you excuse us? Please?"

"Um..." Daniel pointed at the door. "I'll just be...uh..." He left.

"I liked him better when he was trying to kill me," Dylan said. "Well, Rommie?"

"Dylan, I have to do this."

"Why? What are you trying to prove?"

"I'm not trying to...Dylan, Harper has given more of himself to me than any organic has given to any AI, ever. Yet every time he's been at risk, I've been, at best, a bystander, at worst...Dylan, I *have* to do this. All right, maybe I am trying to prove something, if only to myself, that I deserve to be this ship's AI, that I can do what I was meant to do, serve and *protect* my crew. I know you can stop me with an order. I'm asking you as ... as a friend, not to give that order."

Dylan looked at a point over her head and sighed. Then he looked down at his ship's avatar. "All right. But let me be clear: This is not a suicide mission; you won't prove anything if you destroy yourself. The mission objectives are to disrupt the Goa'uld operation and extract Mr. Harper and Major O'Neill. If your plan A doesn't work, go to plan B. No unnecessary risks. Understood?"

"Aye, captain."

8

8

Out in the corridor, Daniel watched Dylan leave the machine shop, then straightened up as Rommie came over to him. "I take it he didn't talk you out of your plan," Daniel said.

"No," Rommie said.

"I see... Uh, Rommie, I'm sorry if I embarrassed you, but ... uh, I was worried about you."

"I know. And thank you for your concern. Having said that, would such concerns have prompted Jack O'Neill to change some of his plans?"

"No." Daniel smiled slightly. "We pulled some real bone-headed plays, I can tell you that."

"I'm sure," Rommie said, smiling sweetly. "So, now that we understand each other, let me remind you of something: I am the dominant system on this mission. If you don't obey my orders-"

"You will rip out my innards and use them for target practice."

"Exactly." Rommie's smile widened. "Don't you love it when sentient beings can understand each other so well?"

She held the smile as she headed down the corridor.

Daniel leaned back against the wall. "Memo to self: Next time a strange old woman in the back of a limo offers you a job, tell her you have a previous engagement."

8

8

"We are in the Charon system," the pilot said after the *Andromeda Ascendant* and its escort came out of slipstream. "Coming up on Charon Theta."

"Very well," Dylan said. "Andromeda?"

"Activating sensor upgrades..." Andromeda's screen image said. "I have identified the planetary defense grid. Sensors indicate the satellites have locked onto us."

"Open a channel."

"Aye."

"This is Captain Dylan Hunt of the *Andromeda Ascendant,* calling Major Samantha Carter-O'Neill and the symbiote Ydara. We are here to arrest you and secure the release of Seamus Harper and Captain Beka Valentine. You can surrender and come quietly, or we can do this the hard way. The choice is yours."

Sam's face quickly filled the monitor. "Dylan!? What's going on? What's this all ab-"

"You can drop the act, Sam. I know what you are and what you're doing, and I'm going to put a stop to it. Now."

Sam's eyes flared. "Come ahead, fool," she said in Ydara's voice. "What's another dead hero?" She left the screen.

"The satellites are firing their missile batteries," Andromeda reported.

"Defensive missiles!" Dylan barked. "Return fire! All ships, commence attack."

The *Andromeda Triumphant* lead the way, blazing a trail through the swarm of missiles, she, her 'grandmother,' and the Nietzschean ships targeting the defense satellites, even destroying one or two. But it was only a matter of time before they started taking damage ... as Dylan had expected.

"Just a little more..." Dylan said as the Command Deck rocked under his feet and sparks flew from panels. Then the deck echoed with a particularly bad hit. "That's it! Launch the escape pods! All ships, retreat."

As the *Andromeda Ascendant* peeled away from Charon Theta, her wake quickly filled with a swarm of escape pods. All but one of them were empty, of course, with transponders broadcasting false life signs. The one remaining pod also had a life signs transponder ... and three androids crammed into it.

"ECM units operational," Andra said. "Avoiding enemy missiles."

"Primary LZ selected," Daniel said. "Setting course."

"I'm comin' to get ya, Harp," Rommie whispered. "Just hang in there..."

8

8

"The enemy ships are retreating," one of the Jaffa manning Sam's war room, not far from the throne room, reported.

"So soon?" Harper/Sedara said, skeptical.

"The *Andromeda Ascendant* has launched escape pods," the tech went on.

"Now I know that was too easy," Harper rumbled. "Hunt is up to something." He came up behind the Jaffa and studied the tactical graphic. "That group of escape pods, there - they seem to be on a course to land near us. Nicely done, 'Boss.' Destroy them."

"They are under the range of the nearest satellite."

"Then fire anti-aircraft missiles at them as soon as they are in range."

"Yes, sir."

8

8

"Altitude, 30,000 meters," Daniel said. "Decelerating ... twenty-nine thou-"

"I'm detecting missile lock," Andra said. "We are coming into range of their AA batteries."

"Right on time," Rommie said.

"They're firing..." Andra went on.

"Wait for it.."

"...missiles have acquired target... closing ..."

"...stand by..."

"...impact imminent..."

"NOW!"

Daniel blew the hatch, and all three androids exploded out, arcing away from the pod, just before the missile destroyed it. They were far enough way to be untouched by the blast, but close enough to mingle with the debris cloud, and use it to mask their free fall to the ground ... 27 kilometers below them.

And closing fast.

8

8

Beka winced against the light as the door to her cell creaked open; she rolled over on the floor as Sam entered, flanked by four guards.

"Good morning," Ydara said with Samantha's vocal chords. "I thought you'd like to know the *Andromeda Ascendant* attempted to mount a rescue, but we repulsed it. So we will not be distracted during to today's lesson." She turned to her guards. "Bring her."

8

8

"Admiral Zhukov reports my forces are in position," Tyr said as he and Dylan boarded one of the *Andromeda's* shuttles. "We can move in as soon as the defense grid is down."

"Good." Dylan's eyes traveled over the lancers checking over their weapons in the passenger seats - he saw that Trance and Kemp were checking over their own bags - until he spotted the man in the pilot seat. "Sid!?" Dylan yelped. "What are you doing here?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Sid said. "Even if Rommie and company get the grid down, you will still need the best star pilot in the galaxy to pull this off, but she's one of the people we want to rescue. So you will have to do with the one who taught her how to fly."

"A prudent choice, I would think," Tyr said, plopping into the co-pilot's seat and doing systems' checks.

"Oh, fine," Dylan said. "And I suppose your son, Tamerlane, is going to be our flight engineer?"

Just then, a Nietzschean boy darted forward with a small component in his hand, tools hooked to his belt. "Father! I've replaced this faulty relay."

"Well done, my son. Now go and make sure our point defense lasers are ready."

Tamerlane raced to the rear of the ship.

"He's good with mechanical things," Tyr explained.

"Uh-huh." Dylan found an empty seat among his lancers and sat down. "You know what? I'm going to sit here and not worry about the Universe going insane, because there's nothing I can do about it anyway."

"What's got into him?" Sid muttered.

8

8

The three androids' AG harnesses kicked in to break their falls when they were only half a kilometer above the ground. They landed a dozen meters from each other, in a small field surrounded by trees.

"All right," Rommie said, pointing. "The compound is ten kilometers that way. Andra-"

Daniel sneezed. Loudly.

"What was that?" Rommie demanded.

"Allergies," Daniel sniffled.

"You're an android - you can't have allergies."

"I had them in my human life; maybe I brought them along."

"Well, compartmentalize them and get with the program!"

"Compartmentalize them? Oh, yes ... there. Done."

Rommie kept her incredulous gaze fixed on the male android. "Andra. Take point. Daniel. Cover the rear. And PLEASE don't give me a reason to shoot you. The paperwork's a bitch."

"I'm never going to get paid," Daniel muttered as the androids started running.

8

8

"We have a problem," Harper said, entering the throne room. Sam looked away from the beaten and bloody form of her daughter, hanging limp in her shackles.

"What?"

Harper crossed to a control panel; it lit at his touch. "I had to recalibrate the sensors to find them, but three energy signatures are coming at us through the forest at one hundred and sixty kilometers per hour."

"What...High Guard androids? How?"

Behind them, Beka started chuckling. "You're in for it now," she said with a grin. "If Rommie knows what you've done to Harper, then you can just forget it. She can't be reasoned with, she won't be bargained with, she absolutely will not stop until she gets in here and rips your head off."

"We will see," Samantha/Ydara said. "Alert the Jaffa; send more guards to the defense grid's computer core. That is their most likely target."

8

8

They felt the weapons lock onto them just as they got within sight of the compound.

"Incoming!" Daniel shouted.

The three androids ducked behind trees, a blur of motion, barely avoiding the barrage of Jaffa energy bolts.

"So much for doing this quietly," Daniel observed. "What now?"

Rommie drew her force lance, her face a mask of determination. "We do it loud!"

8

8

From the throne room, Sam, Harper and Beka could hear the sounds of weapons fire and shouting. And then a loud explosion rocked the room, making the lights flicker.

"Nice to see ya, Rommie," Beka muttered.

"The defense grid is down," Harper said in the Goa'uld's voice, consulting the monitor. "And I show three intruders moving quickly through the compound."

"Why don't you welcome them?" Sam asked.

Harper smiled and hefted a rifle. "My pleasure."

"Wait-" Beak said. "What-"

Harper patted his rifle's clip. "Anti-android ammo. Something I invented to pass the time here." He turned to leave.

"NO!" Beka shouted after him. "You can't-" Beka turned to her mother. "Sam, or whoever, you can't do this. Harper loves Rommie. If you make him kill her, you'll destroy him."

Sam's eyes flared as she smiled. "I prefer 'break' to 'destroy,' but you've got the general idea..."

8

8

"Captain," Andromeda's voice called, "the defense grid is down-"

"That's it! Tyr, order in your troops. Sid, launch!"

"And away we go," Sid said as he worked the shuttle's controls.

8

8

"Is it just me?" Daniel said as they move across the lawn, force lances at the ready. "Or is there something suspicious in that all resistance suddenly evaporated?"

"It's just you," Rommie snapped.

"No," Andra said, "he's right-this is too-"

Just then, several meters away, Harper came around the corner of a nearby building, leveling his rifle. "

Take cov-" Andra started.

Harper's first shot caught Daniel in the leg. Sparks flew and he stumbled, but he still managed to keep up as the three androids made for a nearby ditch. But Harper's next shot caught Rommie the back. As her body erupted, her arms and legs flailed, smoke and sparks pouring out of her, and she fell to her knees.

"ROMMIE!" Daniel screamed.

"Go!" Andra shoved Daniel into the ditch. She soaked up three more shots from Harper as she grabbed Rommie by the arm and pulled her to safety.

Daniel had already pulled a small repair kit from a uniform pocket and began working on Rommie with the small tools. "You came through that well," he said to Andra.

"My systems have been upgraded to better absorb battle damage," Andra explained.

"Oh, and how thoughtful it was of the Vedrans to share that with us."

"But ... they haven't."

Daniel rolled his eyes. Andra's programmers had apparently decided sarcasm no longer had a place in AI personas. "Never mind."

"There's a squad of Jaffa approaching from the Southeast," Rommie said, turning to Andra. "Hold them off. Then secure the LZ for Dylan's shuttle."

Andra hesitated.

"Go!" Rommie hissed.

Andra went, successfully avoiding more shots from Harper.

"How am I?" Rommie asked.

"Not good -" Daniel started.

"Having trouble, my beloved Rom Doll?" Harper taunted in the Goa'uld's guttural voice. "Why not come out and let me fix you?"

"I need you to earn your keep," Rommie hissed. "I need a tactical analysis. Is there a way out of this without killing Harper?"

"I've run ten of those in the last 6 seconds," Daniel whispered. "No. It's him or us." Rommie closed her eyes for a second.

"I know. That's not what I came here for." She opened her eyes. "Cover me. And DO NOT fire unless I order you to."

"What are-"

"You have your orders."

Rommie clambered out of the ditch, got to her feet. She leveled her force lance at Harper.

Harper took aim at her.

Rommie dropped her force lance; it hit the ground with a solid thump.

"What...?" Harper said, puzzled.

"Go ahead," Rommie said, shambling forward.

"Shoot me if you can."

"Pick it up!"

"No."

"Pick up your-" Harper winced, then spoke in his own voice: "Rommie? What are you ... get out of-" Another wince, and the Goa'uld returned: "I'll drop you where you are, then, I'm warning you-"

"It's not easy, is it?" Rommie said. "You've made the same mistake everyone makes: You think he's the weakest of us. In fact, he has more strength than even he knows. As you're learning. He'll fight you with everything he has-"

"And lose! It's only a matter of time before I override him and pull this trigger."

"Then I'll die and he'll live, a trade I'll gladly make."

"Foolish ... KEEP BACK!"

Rommie finally bumped into the rifle's muzzle. She yanked it out of Harper's hands and tossed it away, then grabbed Harper by the collar.

Harper/the monster inside him smirked. "Well done, an impressive display. But even without Harper's expertise at my disposal, I can tell your systems are crashing. Even if the *Andromeda* is sending you all the power she can spare, the fact is you're dying. How many minutes do you think you have?"

"Enough to finish this." Rommie clamped her other hand on Harper's dataport and closed her eyes.

'This must be my day for unusual VR entries,' Rommie thought as she flew through another tunnel like the one into Daniel's mind, but more fluid, not remotely mechanical. It spat her out into a dark, tortured sky, thousands of meters above a blasted cityscape of shattered building and lifeless earth. She slowed, hovering in the air for a moment, then dropped like a stone. Her impact was almost as loud as a small nuclear explosion; although she seemed to be intact, the impact crater must have been a hundred meters across.

Rommie picked herself off the ground and dusted herself off. "This looks like Boston," she mused, "but worse than it really was. An impression of Boston, perhaps."

"Very good," the Goa'uld voice said. The clouds boiled above her, forming into the contours of Harper's face, the image filling the sky from horizon to zenith; lightning flashed in his eyes. "Well, well, well, you were actually foolish enough to come in here. Welcome to my nightmare, 'Rom Doll;' I don't think you're going to like it!"

Energy blasted out of the Harper face's eyes and sent Rommie flying. She didn't know how far (as if that mattered here); it felt like dozens of kilometers at least. She bounced and rolled and finally came to a stop against some rocks. She rolled over, looked over the rocks as she picked herself up -

- and saw her own VR matrix? No, the walls were blurry, indistinct - another impression from Harper's memories. Before she could react, a brilliant star descended out of the faux VR sky and stopped meters above the ground, hovering between two walls of data files. Rommie squinted - she could make out two figures inside the star: Herself and Daniel's predecessor, Gabriel, naked, kissing passionately, their bodies losing detail and blending into a single energy form. Then she became aware of someone standing just to her right ... Harper. As he had been during that incident, in a t-shirt, work pants, and tool belt. He looked up at the star form with a hurt look on his face, then looked down below it, his eyes not focusing on anything. His hands convulsed into fists for a moment. Then he broke into scan lines and vanished.

"No," Rommie breathed, "that didn't-"

"Oh, yes, Andromeda," the Goa'uldHarper's voice rumbled, "he knew. I suppose you weren't aware of him because ... you had something else on your mind. But he knew. And that's why this made sense to him..."

The world melted around her, and she found herself in a machine shop aboard the *Resolution of Hector,* Harper and ... herself standing before a panel displaying a schematic of Remiel, the *Balance of Judgment's* second avatar.

"I..." Harper said, finally tearing the words out of himself, "I love you."

The other Rommie snorted disdainfully. "Well that's the most pathetic thing of all. I might as well ask you to love an amoeba."

"No!" Rommie shouted. "Those words didn't come from me-"

"The words, no," Goa'uldHarper growled, his face filling the monitor. "But the sentiments behind them? The contempt for him? You're telling me that was ALL an invention of the Judgment AI? Or could it be that after living within your mind for two years, he'd picked on some feelings you have for your little pet that you simply don't voice because you'd hurt his feelings?"

Rommie didn't answer.

"WELL?" the face demanded.

Rommie whispered something.

"What!?"

"It's true," Rommie repeated "I-I do have ... problems with Harper. But that's not all there is to my relationship with him. I care for him; I feel closer to him than any-"

"SPARE ME!" Another eye blast sent Rommie flying. She found herself outdoors again, lightning filling the sky, wind and rain tearing at her. She hit the ground hard.

But Goa'uldHarper was there. "You didn't stop him from being infected by the Magog," he accused. "You utterly failed to find a cure for him. You've broken his heart at every opportunity. You didn't come here to save him; you came here to prove you're not the failure you fear you are. Well, you're wrong!"

He kicked her, sending her another hundred meters. Rommie tried desperately to get back on her feet, but the best she could do was get on her hands and knees, clutching her stomach in pain. "Look at you," Goa'uldHarper said, advancing on her, untouched by the storm raging around them. "So haughty and proud, fancying yourself the perfect High Guard soldier. And yet you leave nothing in your wake but chaos, pain, and death." He reached down and grabbed her collar; Rommie winced as he roughly pulled her to her feet. "You want to save your friend? Then do the only thing you can't possibly mess up, Andromeda: Lie down and die."

His free hand sent an energy blast into her chest; Rommie went flying again. She found herself bouncing and rolling headlong down a rocky hill side. She hit the bottom of the slope with a THUD as loud as a thunderclap; the mud rippled with her impact; then all was still.

8

8

In the real world, Daniel, crouching next to Harper and Rommie with his force lance drawn, turned and looked as Rommie winced and sparks flew from her back, the only activity since she and Harper had shut their eyes. Then all was still again.

"Someone please tell me that's a good sign," Daniel said, turning his attention back to searching for the enemy.

8

8

Rommie lay in the mud, the rain pounding down on her. She could hear/feel Goa'uldHarper coming for her, to finish her off, but even if she could find the strength to fight him, she didn't think it was worth it.

_ '...'_

The monster had been right, of course.

_'...mm...'_

Her career - her whole LIFE - was a catalogue of defeats and disasters, her decks crowded with the ghosts of fallen crew members. It amazed her that her latest little crew hadn't gone to their graves long ago, but they couldn't thank her for that. When Harper had been infected by Magog larvae, living his worst nightmare, what had Rommie done for him? Nothing.

_'...ommi...'_

At best a bystander; at worse, the author of his misery. *All* their miseries. Better to give up, to lie down and die. Dylan would find another AI for his ship, a better one-

_'ROMMIE!'_

"Harper?" Rommie rolled over onto her hands and knees. She looked down into a puddle, at her reflection, and it morphed into Harper's face - the REAL Harper's face.

_'C'mon, Rom Doll! Get up. Kick that guy's butt!' _

_'I can't, Harper ... I'm sorry ... I'm not good enough ... I'm a failure...' _

_'LIKE HELL! You're the freakin' *Andromeda Ascendant,* the baddest ship in the Known Universe (and incidentally, the love of my life). You've had bigger bastards than this schmuck for breakfast and had room for five more just like him. You can take this creep; I *know* it! So get up and show 'im what you're made of, Rom Doll.'_

Rommie looked down into the image of Harper, and she felt it - his love, his strength, pouring into her, as Harper gave more of himself to her than anyone ever had. No questions asked, no conditions set.

_'Thank you.'_

Goa'uldHarper was standing over her. "Any last words?" he asked, a fireball blazing in one hand.

"Yes." Rommie sprang to her feet and lunged at the monster, his skin and clothes rippling like water as her hands plunged through them into his chest. "SCREW YOU!"

Goa'uldHarper writhed in pain, crying out. Then his body broke into chunks and Rommie found herself holding a Goa'uld snake, but where in reality they were a few centimeters long, this one was as big as a python. Lightning tore through the sky; wind and rain blasted her; the monster wrapped its tail around her throat. But none of it fazed her.

"You're the failure," Rommie snapped. "Accessing Immuno-enhancement nanobots. Programming Goa'uld biosignature parameters-" A loud buzz echoed from everywhere at once. "Dammit!" Rommie shouted, her strength starting to flag again. "He's blocking me-"

"Got yer back, Rom Doll," Harper's voice said from the clouds. "I see where you're going. Loosing the nanobots of war! Sayonara Snake Head!"

The Goa'uld screeched in pain as its body flashed, then broke into static and vanished.

The storm stopped; the clouds rolled back, and the sun took its proper place in the clear blue sky.

Rommie fell to her knees, as triumphant as she was exhausted.

8

8

Rommie and Harper opened their eyes at the same time. "Harper?" Rommie asked hesitantly. If her gambit hadn't worked -

"Rommie?"

That one word was all she needed. "Harper, Harper, Harper," she said, pulling him into a hug, smiling. She kissed him on the cheek, and then pressed her cheek against his. "Little engineer ... I've got you, I've got you ... The Goa'uld is in a coma. Trance should be able to safely remove it."

"Good." Harper winced. "Rommie? Let's not ever do anything like that again. Not without dinner and dancing first, anyway."

Rommie almost laughed - there would be time to remonstrate with him over his behavior later.

"Throw in that overhaul I've been needling you about," she said, "and you might just have a-"

She felt the weapons lock before even Daniel was aware they were being fired on. She shoved Harper to the side and took the jaffa energy bolt square in the chest. Ordinarily, she would have shrugged it off, but not after all the damage that had been inflicted in the real world and in the VR matrix: Sparks flew from her chest as she slumped to the ground.

"NO!" Daniel screamed, firing furiously at the shooter, a lone jaffa on a nearby rooftop. His armor sparked and he fell back, out of sight.

Harper had already fallen to Rommie's side. "No... Rommie..."

"Here," Daniel said, handing Harper his tool kit. "Android first aid kit-"

"Go," Rommie said.

Daniel just looked at her.

"Find Samantha and Beka," Rommie went on. "You have your orders. Move!"

Daniel patted Harper's shoulder. "Do what you do best, Pygmalion." Then he took off on a run.

8

8

Beka flopped to the throne room's floor when Sam released her handcuffs from the ceiling chains. Then Sam backed up, aiming a weapon at her daughter. "Get up," she ordered in the Goa'uld voice.

Beka unsteadily got to her feet. "Where ... where to now?"

"We're taking a little trip. You might enjoy it; I seem to recall it was quite a rush ..."

8

8

"Oh, DAMMIT!" Harper sat back on his knees. "Rommie, I'm sorry - I can't-"

"It's all-"

"Over here!" a voice shouted behind him. High Guard and Nietzschean soldiers quickly swarmed over Harper and Rommie. Harper held still - a prudent move with a dozen guns in your face - until Dylan came over.

"Mr. Harper?"

"Hey, Boss. What's up?"

Dylan smiled. "He's all right; let him go. Mr. Kemp?"

Kemp bent over Rommie, furiously making repairs. "Almost there..." A loud SNAP, and Rommie suddenly had a little more spark in her. Kemp pulled back from her, and started to go over her with a diagnostic scanner. "Not the prettiest repair in the world, but she should last long enough to get her back home."

Tamerlane poked around Kemp and peered at the android. "More than long enough, I should think. Are you going to fix that burr in her right shoulder, too?"

"That's been there," Harper said. "I'll get to that when I re-tune her fine motor skills. That friggin' snake burned out those subprocessors."

Kemp frowned down at his scanner. "I should just throw this away. Or sell it. Paperweight, anybody?"

"Save it for a rainy day, Mr. Kemp," Dylan said, crouching by his ship's avatar. "Andromeda? What did I tell you about unnecessary risks?"

Rommie smiled. "Define 'unnecessary.'"

8

8

"So that's a Stargate," Beka said, leaning on a crate near it, still handcuffed, covered by Sam's guards.

"Yes," Sam/Ydara rumbled, moving to the dialer. "The network is up again at last."

"Leaving so soon?" Daniel's voice floated down from all around them. "A shame. You've lived through so much history over the last 3,000 years, Sam. You could at least give me a capsuled summary of what I missed before I was ... well, 'rechristened' would be as good as term as any."

Something in Daniel's voice made Sam's eyes flare.

"So ... it really is you, Scholar." She nodded to her men; they fanned out to search for the source of the voice.

"As pesky as ever I'm afraid."

"Well, you are too late to stop me from leaving," she said, keying in an address. "My daughter and I are taking our leave of this place; you won't be able to deal with my men in time."

"I don't have to."

"What are you-?"

Sam pressed the red, central activation key, and it bounced out of the dialer; Sam caught it. Of course, the gate did nothing.

"The 'Sun Makers' was one of my favorite *Dr. Who* stories," Daniel said. "Look behind you."

Sam spun to see her guards unconscious in a heap, Daniel facing her with his force lance drawn.

"It's over, Sam."

"Nothing is ov-"

"I wasn't taking to *you.* I know what it's like, Sam. To think you've gone too far, that even if you want to, you can't stop." He edged closer to the woman who had been his comrade in another life. "But that's not true. You can fight your way through the madness, through the anger. You can be free, you can come back to yourself." He raised his free hand. "All you need is the hand of a friend."

Sam blinked; her eyes cleared. "Daniel?" she said in her own voice.

Daniel smiled. "Yes, Sam, it's me!"

"Daniel..." She took his hand, and pressed her other hand against his chest ...

... the hand with the PALM DEVICE against his chest ...

"FOOL!" Sam roared as an energy blast sent Daniel flying backwards, sparks flying from him and his force lance. The lance rattled to the floor as Daniel crashed into some boxes and crates.

"Twice in one day..." Daniel groaned. "Wonder if androids get hazard pay..."

Sam's eyes flared as she advanced on the badly damaged android.

"Your new body's maker should be credited, Scholar, for building you well enough to survive my first attack." She aimed the palm device at him. "This time, you will not be so lucky. Fare-"

"HEY!'MOM'!"

Sam turned to see Beka barely standing on her feet, Daniel's otherwise inert fully deployed force lance in her hands.

"Let's go!" Beka challenged.

"Foolish cow," Sam/Ydara spat. "This can end only one way for you."

Beka grinned a death's head grin. "If I'm goin' out today, I'm doin' it on my feet where you can look me in the eye. Let's do this."

"As you wish." Sam raised the palm device. Beka felt the warm energy begin to build up between it and her head ...

... and then subside. Sam's whole body shook as she began to turn the palm device away from her daughter ... towards herself ...

"Beek-aaaaaaa..." Sam rasped.

"Momma?" Beka hadn't planned on saying it - it just slipped out.

"Help ... mmmeeeeeeee..."

Beka rushed to her mother and helped her move her arm the last few inches, to press the palm device against its wearer's chest.

The lethal instrument flared one more time.

Both women - mother and daughter - cried out in pain and triumph.

And collapsed in a heap.

"Nooo..." Daniel said.

Beka pulled herself to her knees. "Hey-" She took one of Sam's hands in both of hers. "Sam? Momma? You with me?"

Sam opened her eyes and looked up at Beka. "I can't feel her anymore."

As Daniel crawled over to them, pounding feet announced the entrance of Dylan and his troops, Tyr, Trance and Kemp rushing to their crewmates, Rommie and Harper supporting each other as they hobbled in.

"Whaddya know," Sam said, "it's the cavalry."

"The symbiote is dead," Daniel said, passing a hand over Sam's body. "We have to - sarcophagus. Beka, we have to find her-"

"No," Sam said firmly.

Daniel just looked at her.

"Please, Daniel," she said, "if that really is you in there, let me go."

Daniel finally nodded, a single tear betraying his emotions.

Sam turned her attention back to Beka. "Guess we won't have that night on the town."

Her anger spent, Beka couldn't stop the tears flowing down her cheeks. "Are...are you sure...?"

"I've lived longer than I'd ever wanted to. I'm ready to go." She smiled. "But I got to see my baby girl before the end. And I'm very proud of you."

Beka couldn't speak, only smile through her tears.

"You ... you take care of yourself ..." Sam looked away from Beka, and focused on the empty space. "Hey..." She went still.

"Sam?" Beka managed. "Momma?"

No answer.

Beka's sobs were the loudest sound in the Universe.

8

8

"Hey, handsome," Rommie as she and Kemp came up to Harper's bed in medical.

"Hey." Harper looked up at Trance. "Wow. My favorite babes are both here. I must be in big trouble."

"Not yet you're not," Rommie said, sitting on the edge of his bed. "Keep it up, however, and that will change."

"On the plus side," Trance said, "the Goa'uld left a parting gift of sorts: Your immune system is now stronger than it's ever been. It's still not up to par. But it should be many, many more years before we face a crisis like the one we just had."

"Cool," Harper said. "Kemp, I see ya got Rommie all up and running again."

"Actually we all pitched in, Chief," Kemp said."Even found some glitches you might have missed."

"What, you mean you took care of that flutter in her right eyelid?" Harper said as he and Rommie smirked.

"Eeeyeah," Kemp said.

"And that phase variance in her right optical sensor?"

"Uhhh..."

"And that wobble in her left kneecap?"

"THAT we found!"

Harper grinned. "Take it easy, Kemp; I'm just raggin' on ya."

"Yeah, uh, ok. Glad to have you back, Chief."

Rommie looked over her shoulder at Kemp. Pointedly.

"Uh..." Kemp said. "Yeah, I'll go now and, uh..."

"Thruster quad four," Harper said. "Felt a little bumpy when Andromeda put herself in that barbecue roll."

Kemp smiled and shook his head as he turned to leave. "Yeah, it's good to have you back, Chief. Quad four. On it."

Trance smiled at the interplay. Then noticed the looks from Harper and Rommie. "Yeah, I'll go and, uh ..."

"Dye your hair?" Rommie said.

Trance wrinkled her nose at Rommie but left.

"You didn't know?" Rommie asked Harper.

"Know what?"

"In her original, purple form, Trance was not a natural blonde."

"Didn't know that. Android sensors?"

"Female persona. Same difference." Her smile faded. "How are you doing?"

"Well, you heard Trance-"

"That's not what I meant."

Harper looked up at the ceiling. "Jeez, Rommie ... Before I left Earth, I ... I did stuff, I was ... different. I had to be to survive. And I didn't always like who I was."

"And the Goa'uld brought all that back."

He nodded.

Rommie gripped her engineer's shoulder. "I know what it's like, Harper, believe me. If you ever need to talk about it, you know I'm always with you, even if this body isn't present."

"I know. You can always talk to me too, Rom Doll."

"I know." She leaned over and kissed his forehead. "You rest now."

"You just got here! I know, always with me, but where are ye goin'?"

"To a funeral for a friend..."

8

8

Sam's funeral was with full military honors in one of the missile launch bays, her casket positioned for loading into one of the launch tubes. Tyr, Sid, Daniel, and Tamerlane were in attendance; Dylan lead the ceremony, and (of course) made a moving speech. But Beka felt like she was sleep-walking through it, in one ear and out the other.

An honor guard removed the Commonwealth flag from the casket, folded it, and handed it to Beka. Then, to the strains of "Amazing Grace," the casket rolled down the track and into the launch tube. The deck rocked ever so slightly as it was shot out into space.

Beka found Daniel standing by a window, looking at the tiny, gleaming star that housed Samantha Carter-O'Neill's mortal remains.

"Throne for your thoughts," Beka said.

"Hmm? Oh. Hello, Beka. I was just wondering if my funeral will be anything like this, or if I'll just be broken up into scrap and shot out an airlock during a waste dump."

"Why shouldn't you have a good funeral? You did a stand up job back there, Daniel."

"Yes, I did, and despite the outcome, I was glad I could help. But in all the excitement, we've forgot that I am a terrorist, a murderer, and worse; and it probably won't be too long before SG-1 is once again an historical curiosity with no living members..."


	4. Epilogue

**EPILOGUE - COMES THE DAWN ...**

**...FOUR MONTHS LATER...**

"All rise!"

Daniel and his Perseid legal advisor got to their feet as the tribunal entered the courtroom and approached the bench. He didn't have to look up to see that Ryan/The Wrath of Achilles and two other ship's avatars, all decked out in full dress uniforms, were presiding over his trial. Nor did he have to turn around to see the gallery was full of the families of his victims. He'd noted the arrival of Dylan Hunt and Minister Freemont earlier; he supposed they were still there.

Ryan and his co-judges solemnly sat down, and he banged the gavel. "Court is now in session. Be seated."

Daniel found his seat.

"Before we begin," Ryan intoned, "I would like to make a statement for the record. Certain parties have made suggestions in the popular press that because the defendant is an AI like ourselves, this tribunal will be lenient towards one of our own kind. Nothing could be further from the truth. Although the defendant is of the same 'species' as this tribunal, we do not find anything in common with him. His actions during the events of four months ago, while commendable, do not change the fact that for three hundred years, the defendant violated every principle that is an intrinsic part of the core of every High Guard AI - to serve and protect. By perverting that fundamental creed, the *Balance of Judgment* severed all bonds with his fellow AIs. Even if we did not hear the cries for justice from the victims' families, we would mete it out accordingly anyway, for in our eyes, the *Balance of Judgment* is a contemptible animal. A mechanical animal, but an animal nonetheless.

"Now. The defendant will rise."

Daniel and his advisor got to their feet.

"Balance of Judgment," Ryan said. "This Tribunal has accepted your plea of guilty on all counts. Have you anything to say before sentencing?"

Daniel shuffled and hesitated. "I..." He awkwardly turned around and faced the gallery behind him. "I know this may not count for much. But for what it is worth, I am deeply ashamed of my actions, and I am sorry for all the pain and grief I have caused you. I will not ask for forgiveness; that's for no one in this courtroom to give. But you have my remorse." He shrugged and turned back towards the tribunal. "That's all."

"Very well," Ryan said. "Balance of Judgment, having been convicted on all counts, you are sentenced to erasure. Sentence to be carried out immediately."

Cheers, mostly of relief, rose from the gallery; Ryan cut it off with a bang of his gavel.

"However," he went on, "on the recommendation of Captain Dylan Hunt, commodore of the fleet, this court will grant you a stay of execution so that-" An angry buzz rose from the galleries; Ryan banged his gavel. "Order! We will have order in this court, or the courtroom will be cleared."

The buzz subsided.

"You will be granted a stay of execution," Ryan went on, "so that the avatar known as Dr. Daniel Jackson will perform certain duties on behalf of the High Guard. If you do not perform these duties adequately, or if you are insubordinate to the supervising High Guard officer, the stay will be lifted and the sentence will be carried out." He banged his gavel. "This court stands adjourned."

8

8

"Well," Daniel said, meeting with Dylan and Jack Freemont in a small office near the courtroom, "I don't know what to say. Other than that many will see this as an acquittal, and it could be a public relations disaster for the Commonwealth."

"Don't worry." Freemont nodded towards Dylan. "He'll take the hit. Surprise, surprise."

"So," Daniel said, "what is this 'duty' I've been assigned?"

"You could say field archaeology-" Dylan started.

"He's reactivating Stargate Command," Freemont said. "It'll be based on Charon Theta, now that we've de-Jaffaed the place."

"Thank you, Minister, I was getting to that."

"Only trying to help, Captain."

"Stargate..." Daniel breathed.

"Harper has confirmed that the gate network is up and running," Dylan explained, "and Ydara and friend could not be the only Goa'uld out there. They're a threat we'll need intelligence on. Also, there were many races humanity had contact with through the SGC that haven't been heard from since. We want to know what happened to them, and whether they can contribute to the Commonwealth. We can use all the help we can get."

"And you ... want me..."

"You said you wanted to prove that you could be what you once were," Dylan said. "Well, here's your chance. And more people than just you will know. Don't blow it."

"I...Thank you, Captain Hunt."

"Don't thank me, Daniel - this 'duty' I've given you could get you killed."

"I know ... all the same-"

"You're welcome."

"So...I assume I'm not going to be entrusted with commanding the new SGC. Who's my supervising officer this time?"

Dylan tabbed a control on the desk. "Send her in, please."

A petite, no-nonsense brunette marched into the room and smartly saluted her superiors. "Sir! Officer Max Lincoln reporting as ordered, sir."

Dylan returned her salute. "At ease, Officer."

"Uh..."Daniel stammered, "HER!? Oh, hello, Max, uh, we have met before, sort of, uh - has Ryan left the building-? Of course he has, um-" Daniel broke off and looked up at the ceiling. "Somewhere in this vast cosmos, Jack O'Neill is looking down on me and laughing his ass off."

...SIX WEEKS LATER ...

Beka hated planets, hated deserts, so a desert planet was not to her liking. But she held her tongue as Daniel did whatever he was doing over a patch of ground a dozen meters from her. At least they hadn't gone too far from the Stargate; it was the only structure in sight, and Beka didn't even want to risk getting lost.

Daniel finally came back over to her. "Thank you for coming."

"No problem ... I guess there were people here?"

"Oh, yes. Abydos is where it all began. For me, anyway."

"What happened to them?"

"They asceneded," Daniel explained. "But years later, after the war, they came back."

"And then?"

"I don't know." Some of the AI toughness snuck through Daniel's geekiness. "But I'm going to find out."

8

8

"Incoming traveler," Daniel's screen image said from the console near the gate. At the bottom of the ramp, Dylan, Harper, Rommie, and Max stopped milling around and looked up towards the ancient portal.

Daniel's hologram appeared. "SG Prime transponder code identified. Opening iris."

The iris opened; a moment later, Beka and Android Daniel came through the glowing event horizon. Beka turned on her heel and looked at the glistening membrane until it vanished. Then she faced her shipmates and jerked her thumb over her shoulder. "You guys. Have got. To try. That thing. WHOA!"

"Unfortunately, we can't," Dylan said, leading the others up the ramp. "We're having some trouble with Nietzschean incursions on the border."

"What a surprise," Beka said, not surprised. "Gee, could Regent Anasazi have some explaining to do?"

"Undoubtedly," Daniel said.

"But before we go..." Harper handed a small box to Daniel's android self. "I finally made these. You did ok, back, you know ... and, um ... hope you like them."

Daniel opened the box, and his jaw dropped at what he fished out:

A pair of black-rimmed glasses.

"I..." Daniel stammered. "I don't know what to say."

"'Thank you' is customary," Screen Daniel said.

"Yes. Thank you." Daniel put the glasses on.

"You need those like you need a hole in the head," Beka said.

"True," Daniel said. "Yet I feel ... complete, if that makes any sense. Well, Beka it was good seeing you again. Best of luck in-"

"Whoa-wait a minute. You don't think you're not gonna see me again, do you? Think again! You're family, mister, and I believe in family ties almost as much as the Goa'uld do. I'll be seein' ya around, Doctor Jackson."

Daniel smiled at the memory of the day, a lifetime ago, when someone else had said that to him.

"Yes, Captain Valentine," he said, "yes, I believe you will."

THE END


End file.
